tl PBR YEAR. 
THE CATALOGUE SEASON. 
This is again upon us, and there has never been a 
more abundant crop, or of better quality. The cata¬ 
logue month, to those truly interested in gardening, 
is the most enjoyable of the year. Our greatest plea¬ 
sures come from gardening for profit, and our great¬ 
est profits come from gardening for pleasure. The 
world’s horticulture had its birth in a seed, and it is 
to the seedsmen we are indebted, more than to all 
others, for the fruits of the garden. They are con¬ 
stantly on the lookout for something new—something 
useful; upon this their success in a great measure de¬ 
pends. If there were no improvement in vegetable 
forms the garden would, in a great measure, lose its 
attractiveness, as well as its usefulness. Progress is 
the order of the day, along every line, and nowhere is 
it more manifest than in the horticultural field, and 
our seedsmen are its promoters, and whose catalogues 
are the records of success attained. The value of 
these catalogues cannot well be overestimated; not 
only do they point out the best varieties of fruits, 
vegetables and flowers, for a given locality, but they 
give the best possible cultural instructions. There 
are but few books published so complete in informa¬ 
tion on all subjects pertaining to the garden as many 
of our best catalogues, and we should advise the use 
of such as text-books on gardening. They give fuli 
instructions in every branch, concise and plain, so 
that no one need go astray. In most cases, a volum¬ 
inous work on gardening is only a seedsman’s cata¬ 
logue “blown up” with superfluous words. 
One of the most important features of these pub¬ 
lications is the “novelty” page, as here is noticed the 
latest development of types or varieties. Many get 
the impression that a novelty is such in name only, 
and noticed solely to enable the dealer to get a better 
price for a well-known variety, than he otherwise 
could, and to bring his name more prominently before 
the public. In some instances this may be so; as a 
rule, not. The intelligent seedsman is the most pains¬ 
taking, and honorable of the world’s merchants; the 
nature of his business demands it, as success depends 
upon his stocks being just as represented; and when 
he offers a “novelty” his reputation goes with it; it is 
crest and shield. What is a novelty, and how ob¬ 
tained? This is a question pertinent to this time and 
place. Selection is the parent of all new varieties; 
there are in every locality, in all countries, where vege¬ 
tables are grown to the highest degree of perfection, 
some particular farms which are famous for produc¬ 
ing certain kinds of vegetables, and where the whole 
harvest is secured for seed purposes, and sold at very 
high prices. In such localities we generally find that 
this advantage arises not less from the nature and 
properties of the soil being favorable to the produc¬ 
tion of the one particular kind, than to the infinitely 
NEWTOWN X NORTHERN SPY APPLE. Fie. 64. 
BARTLET X WINTER NELIS PEAR. Fio. 66. 
ing some markings of the Spy, probably due to the 
rarely-manifested direct infiuence of foreign pollen, 
and was successful in one or two instances. Other 
specimens were selected from Newtown trees standing 
near Rhode Island Greening and English and Roxbury 
Russet trees. The seeds of these apples were planted 
and in due time came up in the nursery row. No at¬ 
tempt was made at hand or intentional pollinization 
of any blooms, but the cross-fertilization was left to 
the free agencies of nature. The young trees were 
rather neglected, as other matters pressed heavily on 
Mr. Underhill’s time, but were finally set out as a 
trial orchard, never receiving the best of care on ac¬ 
count of their doubtful prospective value. A few 
trees came into bearing in 1899, and more last year. 
Fourteen plates of these Newtown seedlings were ex¬ 
hibited, some showing every indication, in size, form, 
color and quality of fiesh, of a perfect blending of the 
Pippin with the supposed pollen parent, others show¬ 
ing widely differing characteristics, but not one typi¬ 
fying the Newtown, the seed parent of all. All were 
handsome in their way, and are good keepers, as in¬ 
dicated by their excellent condition as late as Febru¬ 
ary 14 after ordinary cellar storage. The eating qual¬ 
ity was very good, reaching dessert qualifications in 
the case of the Northern Spy and Russet crosses. The 
only apparent defect, from a market standpoint, was 
a lack of red in the coloring. These remarkable new 
apples excited great interest, and it was generally 
thought that in time they would sound the death 
knell of the Ben Davis and other showy delusions. 
It was remarked that American apple growers had 
been scouring the temperate zones, from the steppes 
of Siberia to the wilds of Patagonia, for hardy and 
late-keeping apples, importing hundreds of sour and 
acrid Russian varieties in the search, and neglecting 
the obvious sources of native improvement, until these 
superb varieties had risen up, as if in disgust at our 
lack of patriotism. One thing is certain, they deserve 
extended trials, and may be accepted as pointing out 
the path future improvements will follow. It may be 
well to caution the oversanguine that these fine apples 
were produced where natural conditions favored their 
most perfect development, and maybe they will fall 
off, as many promising novelties do, when transferred 
to less favorable localities. Then, too, the tree must 
be taken into consideration as well as the fruit. Mr. 
Underhill assures us that they appear most vigorous 
and productive at the present time, taking into con¬ 
sideration their immaturity and lack of special at¬ 
tention. We welcome these epoch-making fruits, even 
should they only prove the forerunners of something 
still more desirable. w. v. y. 
VoL. LX. 
NEW YOKK, MAKCH 9, 1901. 
NEWTOWN X RHODE ISLAND GREENING APPLE. FiG. 65. 
specimens tasted was very good, and seemed a com¬ 
bination of both parents. The fiesh was very juicy, 
and the texture smooth. The stem is long and slen¬ 
der, enabling the pears to hold on well during Au¬ 
tumn gales. It is claimed to be free from core rot, 
decay always starting from the outside. It is easily 
seen that this pear has points of considerable value, 
as there is little to compete with it at this late season. 
The color is a smooth yellow-green, like the Anjou. 
The hybrid apples were raised by Stephen W. 
Underhill, of Croton Point, N. Y. Croton Point has 
the reputation of producing the best Newtown Pippins 
marketed either in the United States or abroad for 
the last 50 years, not excepting even the famous 
pippins of the Albemarle region of Virginia and 
North Carolina. Mr. Underhill has grown some of the 
very finest Croton Point Newtowns for almost a gen¬ 
eration. Nearly 20 years ago he became convinced 
that the Newtown trees in his vicinity were failing, 
notwithstanding the best of care, and concluded that 
the variety, already an old one, was running out, and 
needed renewing in some manner. With this end in 
view he selected a peck of the most perfect specimens 
from among hundreds of barrels of the season’s crop. 
Where a Newtown tree approached a Northern Spy 
tree, or had grafts of that variety inserted in it, as 
was sometimes the case, he sought for a Pippin hav- 
greater care and attention paid to cultivation of the 
crop, and the selection of plants for seed purposes. 
The seedsman is constantly looking for these locali¬ 
ties, and for the best farmers therein, in order to 
get seeds that will give the best possible satisfaction, 
which will be to his honor as well as profit. These 
stocks cost many times more than those usually sold 
by the same dealer, and are worth more than the 
extra cost to the gardener, as the difference in price 
amounts to very little, as the expense for seeds is 
hardly noticeable, when compared with the other ex¬ 
penses of the garden. c. l. allen. 
PROMISING NEW HYBRID FRUITS 
As noted on page 135, several very promising new 
hybrid fruits were exhibited at the late meeting of 
the Eastern Horticultural Society in this city. We 
give somewhat reduced illustrations of two Newtown 
Pippin seedlings and a Bartlett pear seedling in Figs. 
64, 65 and 66. The pear was raised by H. M. Harts¬ 
horn, Malden, Mass., and is said to be a hybrid be¬ 
tween Bartlett and Winter Nelis. The former variety 
has evidently transmitted its large size, pyriform out¬ 
line, and thin skin, and the introducer claims as well, 
good growing and bearing qualities. From the Nelis 
it gets its late keeping character. The flavor of the 
No. 2667. 
L 
