1849. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
21 
pointed at apex, often a little oblique, reddish yellow in 
the shade, red in the sun; stalk two inches long, slen¬ 
der, slightly sunk; rich and very high-flavored; stone 
rather large. It ripens immediately after the Black 
Tartarian, and has proved very productive in Western 
New-York. It is one of the few cherries which have 
strongly colored reddish-purple petioles. 
6. Graffion, Bigarreau, or Yellow Spanish, the 
White Bigarreau of Manning. Very large, often an inch 
or more in diameter, obtuse heart-shaped, flattened at 
base, smooth and regular; pale waxen yellow in the 
shade, a bright red cheek in the sun, with minute in¬ 
termediate carmine dots; stalk rather stout, one and a- 
half to two and three-quarters of an inch long, in a 
wide, shallow cavity; flesh yellowish white, firm, sweet, 
of a good but not very high flavor. It ripens after the 
Elton or the latter part of 6 mo. (June.) Its populari¬ 
ty is increased by its size and beauty, being one of the 
smoothest and most finely colored of all cherries. 
We have tried to adopt the name Bigarreau, as giv¬ 
en by Thompson and Downing; but from the great num¬ 
ber of other varieties called Bigarreau, each of which 
has some distinctive epithet, while this has none, diffi¬ 
culty has arisen, and we have concluded to return to 
the old name, Graffion. 
7. Downton. —Large, obtuse heart-shaped, roundish, 
surface slightly wavy; light yellow, intermixed with 
dots and shades of light red; stalk one and three-quar¬ 
ters to two inches long, in a rather large cavity; flesh 
yellowish white, tender, delicate, of a sweet, rich, and 
excellent flavor. Not so handsome as the Graffion, but 
superior in flavor, and ripening nearly at the same time, 
or scarcely later. 
8. Downer, Downer's Late, or Downer’s Red.— Origi¬ 
nated at Dorchester, near Boston, and is the only one 
of these eight varieties, of American origin. It is me¬ 
dium in size, very regular round heart-shaped; bright 
red, becoming darker and full red when ripe; stalk one 
and a-half to one and three-quarters inch long, in a ve¬ 
ry even small cavity; suture a single line on one side ; 
flesh soft, with a high and very good flavor. Like all 
high-flavored varieties, it requires full ripening to be¬ 
come good. It ripens some days after the Downton 
and Graffion. The growth of the tree is rather erect, 
more so than any of these eight sorts, except Black 
Tartarian. It is very productive. 
The figures given, were all drawn from specimens of 
medium size under good culture, grown in western New- 
York, and do not perceptibly vary in size -with those 
grown in other regions of the country. 
Selecting Varieties of Fruit. 
Judging from Books and Nursery Catalogues, an 
inexperienced cultivator would be struck with the 
mighty host of rich and splendid varieties in cultiva¬ 
tion; and would perhaps consider it only necessary to 
make a radom plunge into the vast collection in 
order to obtain a choice number, more or less, as he 
might need. Single nurseries contain in some instances 
hundreds of varieties, all, of course, worthy of cul¬ 
tivation,—else why would they be cultivated? The 
London Horticultural Society has 900 different varieties, 
after rejecting several hundred others as worthless. In 
this country, in addition to the existing multitude, new 
sorts are constantly springing up and rising into notice 
with high recommendations. 
At the late American Congress of Fruit Growers in 
New York City, a motion was made by a distinguished 
member, to cull from this vast assemblage—to reject 
all but the very finest, and to appoint a committee to 
bring in a select list of 400 sorts of apple, 100 of 
pear, 50 of peaches, See. A committee of nine was 
appointed, without restricting them to the exact number, 
and they immediately commenced the work of selection. 
They adopted a liberal basis—did not agree to pro¬ 
nounce all their recommended fruits as first rate, but 
only worthy of general cultivation ; they did not re¬ 
quire a unanimous vote in committee in favor of any 
sort, but only a two-thirds majority; and they agreed 
to propose to the convention as large a list as they 
could thus agree upon. 
Very well,—'and what was the result, with all this 
latitude, and with this host of varieties to select from? 
After several hours of labor, the committee could agree 
to recommend but TEN varieties for general cul¬ 
tivation, and four for particular localities. A 
great number of others were proposed, but none passed 
examination. The great Pomological Garden of 
Robert Manning at Salem, contains a thousand varie¬ 
ties of pear alone* the committee could agree to re¬ 
commend twelve as worthy of general cultivation. 
Nine Peaches, eight Cherries, and eight Plums, were 
all that were chosen of these respective species. In¬ 
deed, so difficult was it to propose any sort, to which 
some serious objection was not known by members of 
the committee, that it was admitted that but little 
could be accomplished, unless neiv varieties of the 
right stamp could be manufactured to order. 
The truth is, there is a very large number of fruits, 
and especially apples, in all parts of the country, that 
are almost first rate, and almost worthy of cultivation; 
but having reached that particular level it seems near¬ 
ly impossible to strain the point a single notch higher. 
Hence, if the cautious cultivator, after procuring a 
hundred new and highly praised sorts, shall find one 
that is decidedly first rate, and excellent in every 
particular, he may regard his labor as well repaid. 
But it should be constantly borne in mind, that no new 
fruit deserves adoption, which is not decidedly superior 
to old varieties of the same season of ripening, in at 
least one important particular, superadded to fine 
quality. 
Preserving Grafts. 
We are often asked, if grafts may be cut in winter 
and kept in good condition a month or two before set¬ 
ting in spring. When we answer that we have kept 
grafts cut in the latter part of summer until the follow¬ 
ing spring, in a fresh state, and which grew and flour¬ 
ished, the difficulty will vanish. 
Many persons mistake the mode in •which scions are 
spoiled in keeping. We sometimes see the cut ends 
carefully covered with wax, to preclude the escape of 
moisture from the sap pores, and at other times the 
ends are stuck into a potato, for the same purpose. 
Now, it happens that nearly all the moisture escapes 
through the pores in the bark; hence it is of greater 
importance that the sides of the shoot be well covered 
with a moist substance. Many cultivators preserve 
grafts in good condition by partially or wholly burying 
them in the earth of a cellar; but they become thus 
covered with sand and grit, and injure the grafting 
knife, unless well washed. Another mode, avoiding 
this difficulty, and by which grafts may be bept through 
winter, is to bury them, out doors, in a box open at 
the bottom only, the grafts being kept from contact 
with the earth below them by cross sticks in the box. 
But the best mode, is to fill a large box with fine 
pulverised moss, or still better, with moist saw-dust, in 
which the grafts are simply immersed, and which are 
thus packed away or withdrawn with the greatest ease, 
at any desired moment. A box of sawdust, in a cod 
cellar, will remain moist without watering for many 
weeks. Too copious or too frequent an application o. 
water, would cause decay in the buds. On the other 
hand, a slight withering is safely and gradually re¬ 
stored by a moderate increase of moisture. In one in 
