1846. THE CULTIVATOR. 285 
a little greener than the remainder of the lot, but at 
harvesting there was no material difference. 
The remainder which soaked two days, was put, just 
before sowing, into a bucket that contained a very little 
lime, which totally destroyed the germinating powers 
of the grain. 
We saw a piece of wheat near Warren, Pa., in thespring 
of 1845, the seed of one acre of which had been soaked 
in a solution of the sulphate of ammonia, and was then 
more than twice as large and thick as the remainder of 
the lot. 
We soaked a bushel of oats in a solution of a pound 
of the muriate of ammonia and rain water for forty 
hours, and sowed on a black muck loam, with hard-pan 
subsoil, but there was no perceptible difference in the 
crop, which might be owing to the dry weather. 
Some corn soaked in a solution of the same kind, 
grew with great rapidity. D. H. Wright. 
Moscow , N. Y., 1846. 
REMEDY FOR SMUT IN WHEAT. 
Mr. Tucker —To ascertain the most effective reme¬ 
dy for smut in wheat, we tried the following experi¬ 
ments in 1841: 
Ten square rods of sandy loam land we divided into 
six equal beds. Upon each we sowed three-fourths of 
a quart of wheat. 
No. 1. Sown with smutty grain. Yield, quarts. 
One smut ball to 19 grains. 
No. 2. Sown with smutty grain, or rather, a very 
few balls of smut, the grain being quite clean. Yield, 
5^ quarts clean grain, and a pint of screenings. One 
smut ball to 168 grains. 
No. 3. Smutty grain washed in lime water and brine. 
Yield, 4| qts.; one pint screenings. One smut ball to 
176 grains. 
No. 4. Smutty grain washed in lime-water and brine, 
and plastered. Yield, 4 qts. clean grain. One smut 
ball to 74 grains. 
No. 5. Smutty grain washed in lime-water and brine, 
and limed. Yield, 7 qts. clean—one gill screenings. 
One smut ball to 1120 grains. 
No. 6. Smutty grain washed in lime W'ater, brine, and 
ley, and ashed. Yield, 7 qts. clean, one pint screen¬ 
ings. One smut ball to 840 grains, and the largest 
growth of straw. 
Soaking wheat in brine and liming it before sow'ing, 
we have found to be as good a preventive against smut 
as any which we have used. D. H. W. 
NAMES OF FRUITS. 
Mr. Tucker —Having been but a few years engaged 
in the study of horticulture, no one point has struck me 
as more deserving attention and censure, than the prac¬ 
tice of disseminating fruits as new and distinct, before 
they have been fruited and carefully compared with va¬ 
rieties already known. To this point my attention has 
been more particularly drawn from seeing advertise¬ 
ments of a strawberry under the name of “Willey,” 
passing around the country. This variety, it is stated 
in these advertisements, is entirely i( new and fine, 
great bearer,” &c.; and a price for the vines is placed in 
accordance with its supposed value. 
In order to correct the error relative to this variety 
being “ new'and distinct,” permit me to give its his¬ 
tory, and then the variety to which I judge it to be¬ 
long. 
Some eight or ten years since, a lady from this city, who 
pays great attention to procuring new varieties of fruits 
and flowers, was in New-York, and visiting a nursery¬ 
man's garden, purchased among other things two varie¬ 
ties of strawberries which he represented as of great 
value. These were brought to this city, planted out, 
gre w, and fruited, but by some accident the names of 
the varieties got lost. After the vines had made run¬ 
ners, this lady gave some of each to Mrs. Willey, of 
this city, and by the latter lady they were generally 
distributed. As time progressed, and the fruit came 
into market, some amateur cultivators here, pronounced 
one variety to be the “ Methven Scarlet,” but having 
few varieties with which to compare, they were unable 
to determine the true name of the other, and therefore, 
out of compliment, they named it the “ Willey.” Under 
this name the vines have been distributed far and wide, 
to Cincinnati, into Kentucky, where it has been adver¬ 
tised as a new variety, and also to Boston, where I ob¬ 
serve, it is brought forward by a nurseryman there, as 
something new'. At this latter I am the more surprised, 
as this nurseryman is a member of the Horticultural 
Society there, and I had supposed the society would 
have examined carefully this, as they should all new 
named fruits, and corrected the error in early season. 
In fruiting this variety with the “Hudson,” cultiva¬ 
ted at Cincinnati, and described by Mr. Longworth, I 
can see no difference; but it is not the “Hudson” of 
Mr. Downing. 
The variety “ Methven Scarlet,” has been dissemina¬ 
ted from this section under the name of “ Keene’s Seed; 
ling,” “Downton,” and of “Stafford’s Mammoth.” It 
is a variety which, once to see, is always to know; yet 
it may come into cultivator’s hands, under the latter 
name as something new, and ere it has fruited and been 
examined as it seems requisite, may be offered for 
sale. E. 
Cleveland , 0., August , 1846. 
SINGULAR FRUIT. 
Mr. Editor — I saw a few days since, a very re¬ 
markable kind of fruit growing in the garden of Daniel 
Payne, Esq., near Warrenton, Virginia, to which I 
would be glad to call your attention. 
The appearance and taste of the fruit put me entirely 
at fault as to its nomenclature. It resembles in form 
and size the English plum. Its color is a pale yellow; 
its taste partakes of the purple plum and May cherry. 
In some of the fruit—all taken from the same branch 
of the tree—the taste of the cherry predominates, in 
others that of the plum,—giving it a rare and delicious 
flavor. The stone is very much like that of the cherry, 
but rather more oval. 
It is clearly a hybrid fruit of the most anomalous 
sort. The trees on which it grows are unlike any I 
have ever seen, with thorns like the damson, and leaves 
like the peach tree or wild cherry. These trees grew 
from the seed (carefully planted,) of the large Flanders 
cherry,—itself a peculiar fruit, and much the finest 
species of cherry known. They are about five years 
old, and have borne for two seasons past, though not 
abundantly. 
Being an indifferent horticulturist, I have ventured to 
send you a description of this remarkable fruit, hoping 
you may know more about it, and that you can assign 
to it a “ local habitation and a name.” My own theory 
in regal’d to it is, that the flower of the Flanders cherry 
tree became impregnated by the pollen of a neighboring 
plum tree. I can account in no other way for so non¬ 
descript an offspring from the Flanders cherry. 
Yours, &c., P. 
Warrenton , Va., July 18th, 1846. 
SEEDING WITH CLOVER. 
It may not be known to all farmers, who raise their 
own clover seed, that the straw, after threshing, con¬ 
tains enough seed to give a thick seeding to the land, if 
spread over the surface. Dr. Cook, of Sodus Point, N. 
Y., pursues this practice very successfully. He spreads 
a thin coat of the straw over the ground as soon as it is 
harrowed, which does not injure, but rather benefits the 
grain, as it comes up through the straw, which after¬ 
wards decays. The seed vegetates w^ell, and affords a 
very thick growth of clover, or to use the Doctor’s own 
words, “ as thick as the hair on a dog’s back.” 
