1899 
THE RURAL* NEW-YORKER. 
833 
THE RUBY QUEEN ROSE. 
In the Spring of 1894 the writer hy¬ 
bridized about 200 blossoms of the 
dainty Japanese Rosa Wichuraiana, now 
familiarly known as the Memorial rose, 
with pollen from many species and va¬ 
rieties of hardy and ever-blooming roses 
As the available time for preparing the 
Wichuraiana blooms in the early morn¬ 
ing was limited,no covering of paper or 
netting was placed over them, but they 
were quickly trimmed with fine scissors, 
cutting away all traces of sepals, petals 
and stamens at one clipping, and leav¬ 
ing only a brush of styles projecting 
from the ovary. When the stigmas were 
pollinated, a few hours later, a label 
was wired on each bloom. It was ex¬ 
pected that only a small proportion of 
the plants grown from the seed fertilized 
in this unprotected manner would show 
evidences of hybridization, but only one 
out of 126 plants, bloomed two years 
later, reproduced the Wichuraiana in 
any close degree, thus proving quite 
conclusively that insects are not likely 
to visit rose blossoms w’hen denuded of 
their showy petals. The hybrid Wichu- 
raianas thus produced proved to be a 
most varied and interesting lot of new 
creations among roses. Five or six 
beautiful and distinct varieties were 
finally selected for testing and propa¬ 
gation, and all have proved absolutely 
hardy so far, enduring temperatures as 
low as 26 degrees below zero without 
harm, and very desirable as climbing or 
pillar roses in other ways. One of the 
very best, and in every way the most 
distinct, has been named Ruby Queen, 
and is shown in Fig. 303, first page. 
Elsewhere the publisher of The R. N.-Y. 
makes announcement that plants of 
this handsome and valuable new rose 
will be distributed among our subscrib¬ 
ers. For hardiness, freedom of bloom, 
and brilliant purity of color, Ruby 
Queen is unique among pillar roses, and 
one well established will become a per¬ 
manent and enduring ornament to any 
rural home. The pollen parent of Ruby 
Queen was the well-known brilliant 
hardy bedding rose Queen’s Scarlet, 
which has 'imparted the bright color 
and double form of its flowers to the 
running habit of Wichuraiana. 
The Pkwaukee Apple, which orig¬ 
inated in Wisconsin, has been bearing 
fruit in Massachusetts for a dozen years, 
and steadily improves on acquaintance. 
The tree is a model in form and growth, 
both in the nursery and in the orchard. 
The fruit is large, not handsome, but is 
covered with sufficient red to make it 
marketable. It is very productive, and 
keeps through the Winter. In flavor it 
may be classed as good. It is by many 
degrees superior to the Ben Davis, as 
grown in New England, an apple in¬ 
ferior in size and productiveness, and 
having no qualities to commend it but 
good looks and long keeping. a. 
The Lawrence Pear. —In Van De- 
man’s Fruit Notes, in The R. N.-Y. issue 
of November 11, he says, in answer to 
the question as to which are the best 
two Winter pears: “Two of the best 
Winter pears are the Lawrence and 
Krull.” We do not know the Krull, but 
we do believe that a fine Winter is a 
very much better pear than the Law¬ 
rence. We have an abundance of the 
Lawrence, and do not think their keep¬ 
ing qualities worthy of special mention. 
In some seasons, with very careful 
handling, and kept in quarters as suit¬ 
able as a farmer can devise, some of 
them will keep until Thanksgiving. This 
year the trees were not at all overload¬ 
ed, and they were picked about the last 
of September. We only put about three 
bushels in our cellar, and as many were 
given to friends as soon as picked. 
They began ripening much sooner than 
usual. With our best care to retard 
ripening, 'in a cool, dark place, there 
was not a hard one left on November 1, 
and to-day we preserved the last of 
them. We never saw pear trees so com¬ 
pletely free from worms, scab, or other 
deficiencies, and yet these, which must 
be 30 or 40 years old, have never been 
sprayed, nor had any special protection. 
In previous years, we have occasionally 
kept the pears fairly well until Decem¬ 
ber 1. Doubtless this difference between 
opinions is caused by difference in lo¬ 
cality. These trees are located about 90 
miles from New York, and are growing 
in a sod forming a part of a large lawn. 
E. G. F. 
The Hubbardston Apple has recent¬ 
ly received considerable praise, and 
many publications advocate setting this 
variety, but I believe that only one side 
of the question is receiving considera¬ 
tion. As a strong, healthy grower in 
the orchard, and a good bearer, the tree 
is a success in most sections of the 
northern apple belt, and the fruit is in¬ 
clined to be free from fungus, even 
where it is not sprayed. This last char¬ 
acteristic 'is, I believe, the cause of its 
popularity. From the buyer’s stand¬ 
point it cannot be considered as favor¬ 
ably, and while I admit its good quali¬ 
ties, I would not advise setting it. For¬ 
merly it sold fairly well in small quan¬ 
tifies, but now it is difficult to dispose 
of a large quantity at nearly as good 
prices as some other varieties demand. 
Its keeping qualities in cold storage are 
very poor, as it becomes mealy and 
loses its flavor very quickly, and with 
the amount of fruit going into cold stor¬ 
age every year, this is a very 'important 
point, and must be considered. I am not 
advocating any particular apple, al¬ 
though there are many that are prefer¬ 
able to the Hubbardston, but an ex¬ 
perience of many years both as a grower 
and dealer, and in cold storage, con¬ 
vinces me that it is a mistake to set 
this variety in a commercial orchard. 
READER. 
For the land’s sake—use Bowker’s 
Fertilizer.— Adv. 
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2 1 2 Church St., Owego, N. Y. 
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