Vol. LVI. No. 2457. 
NEW YORK, FEBRUARY 27, 1897. 
*1.00 PER YEAR. 
The R. N.-Y.’s Review of the Catalogues 
OF f 897. 
I N the following review of the catalogues of 1897, 
we have intended to be strictly impartial. No 
matter how liberal the advertising patron may 
be, we have not praised any of his offerings except 
they have been tried at the Rural Grounds and found 
to be praiseworthy. In all other instances of praise, 
we have told our readers merely what the originators 
or introducers have to say as to the newcomers. 
In our opinion, it is rarely wise for our friends to 
select seeds or plants from those catalogues that offer 
the largest amount or number for the lowest prices. 
So, too, it may be unwise to select of those firms 
which charge 
the highest 
prices. The cat¬ 
alogues should 
b e compared, 
and the general 
tone of the 
reading matter; 
the claims 
made, as well 
as the character 
of the illustra¬ 
tions. The cost¬ 
liest and show¬ 
iest catalogues 
are not always 
better to select 
from than 
those without 
beautiful illus¬ 
trations, with 
but ccmpara- 
tively few 
pages and re¬ 
served concise 
descriptions. 
The R. N.-Y. 
has, for years, 
unreservedly 
condemned 
grossly exag¬ 
gerated pict¬ 
ures that pur¬ 
port to be true 
portraits, and 
descriptions of 
novelties which 
are intended 
to deceive. 
Such firms, 
evidently, are 
working for to¬ 
day, and can 
have little re¬ 
gard for their 
future reputa¬ 
tions. Good 
firms manifestly cannot afford to introduce inferior 
seeds or plants, because they will be harmed in 
reputation more than they will otherwise gain. All 
enterprising firms are on the constant lookout to 
secure sterling novelties. So, too, they are constantly 
working to improve their stocks of standard varieties. 
Mistakes must and will occur in the seed and plant 
business—more, perhaps, than in any other. It is 
necessarily so from the nature of the business. The 
honorable firm stands ever ready to rectify these 
mistakes, and is glad of the opportunity of doing so. 
J. J. H. Gregory & Son, Marblehead, Mass.—A cat¬ 
alogue of home-grown seeds, of 75 pages, of which 
eight are given to specialties. Gregory’s Surprise 
pea seems to be a valuable acquisition. It originated 
with Mr. Hosford by crossing Laxton’s Earliest of 
All with American Wonder. From this cross, Mr. 
Hosford carefully selected, from year to year, for 
eight years, seeds only from those plants which bore 
the best-filled pods and most wrinkled peas. The 
result is the Surprise, which, it is confidently claimed, 
is as early as any of the First of All hard peas, and 
this claim is upheld by several of the experiment sta¬ 
tions. Among other varieties, are the Early Roberts 
potato and the Honor Bright tomato. The potato is 
a sport of the New Queen and, while retaining all of 
its desirable qualities, it is said to have the advantage 
of being a week earlier. The remarkable thing about 
the tomato is the changes of color the fruit under¬ 
goes, being first green, of course, then a waxy white, 
year, 
from 
R E Q U I E S - C A T 
next yellow and, finally, a bright red. Mr. Living¬ 
ston, the originator, says that, “if picked in the 
early stage of ripening, it can be shipped in barrels 
like apples ”. 
Parsons & Sons Company, Flushing, N. Y.—Cata¬ 
logue of the Kissena Nurseries. This old nursery 
company has, for many years, made a specialty of 
evergreen trees and shrubs, Rhododendrons, hardy 
Azaleas, etc., and there is no better list of these 
plants in the country. The choicest specimens of 
evergreens in the Rural Grounds came from this firm, 
such for example as the Umbrella pine, Alcock’s 
spruce, the Big and Little-leaved hemlocks, the Weep¬ 
ing hemlock and the Oriental spruce. 
Hoopes, Brother & Thomas, West Chester, Pa.—Cat¬ 
alogue No 1 is descriptive of fruit trees, small fruits, 
grape vines, etc. No 2 is descriptive of ornamental 
trees, shrubs, vines, hedge plants, roses, hardy her¬ 
baceous plants and ornamental grasses. They are 
both unpretentious catalogues, but they are issued by 
one of the most trustworthy firms in America. 
The Stores & Harrison Company, Painesville, O.— 
A catalogue of vegetable and flower seeds, fruit and 
nut trees, mail size ; grapes and small fruits, orna¬ 
mental trees, mail size ; hardy shrubs and vines, mail 
size; large fruit and ornamental trees, shrubs and 
evergreens, hedge plants, roses, etc. There are 170 
pages with colored illustrations of new cannas, and 
the beautiful Japanese Morning-glorys. Among cur¬ 
rants, the new red currant, Pomona, is offered for the 
first time. The 
clusters, as will 
be seen by the 
conservative il¬ 
lustration, Fig. 
70, are not very 
large, the ber¬ 
ries of medium 
size. But ac¬ 
cording to the 
statements o f 
this trust¬ 
worthy concern 
it has made the 
greatest actual 
acreage on rec¬ 
ord. In one 
the fruit 
6K acres 
was sold at 
wholesale for 
$627 per acre. 
In other years, 
the sales were 
about as great. 
Plants 18 years 
old produced, 
in 1896, more 
than two gal¬ 
lons each of 
fruit. 
Fig. 64 shows 
a n excellent 
portrait of the 
Logan rasp¬ 
berry -black- 
berry which we 
have illu s - 
trated before, 
and which is on 
trial at the 
Rural Grounds. 
The vine, which 
is a vigorous 
grower, may be 
supported b y 
stakes or per¬ 
mitted to sprawl, its natural habit, as does the dew¬ 
berry. The berries, as shown,Jarecof large size and 
of a bright red color; the seeds Jare small and the 
flavor is closely midway between that of the rasp¬ 
berry and blackberry. The -vines, thus far with us, 
have proved hardy and have not yet been attacked by 
anthracnose, which is the bane, at present, of all rasp¬ 
berry plants at the Rural Grounds. This firm vigor¬ 
ously commends the Miller Red raspberry for either 
home or market, as being one of the earliest and best 
varieties known. The illustration shows the fruit of 
natural size. Among new grapes, the Alice is offered, 
first brought to the notice of the public by The R. 
N.-Y. The list of nuts and plums, especially the 
Japan plums, is well selected. 
RESURGAM 
