1849. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
311 
cret of his unheard of crops, and the large size of his 
fruit, lay in the depth and richness of his soil; and as 
none of his customers had, like him, a rich ten feet 
mould to grow giants in, they had no 1 Washington 
Alpines.’ ” 
Notes on Apples. 
Extracts of Letters from David Thomas, near 
Aurora , Cayuga Co. 
We have been trying the Broadwell from Ohio, and 
it has been much admired. It greatly resembles the 
Bough, and some have proposed to call it the Winter 
Bough. Some of us have thought it the best sweet 
apple we have ever tasted in winter. 2 mo. 4, 1849. 
The Wagener. Two persons from Penn Yan, well 
acquainted with this apple, both represent it as the 
best they ever tasted, and speak of its tenderness as a 
remarkable quality, and state that it is good if gathered 
even before it is full grown. 
Domine. Perhaps I have no apple in my collection 
so perfectly crisp as the Domine. It seems not to 
have lost a particle of moisture since it was gathered 
from the tree. There are small dead spots just under 
the skin; but whether this defect is accidental or cha¬ 
racteristic, I do not know.* It has a very superior 
flavor, but it is hardly intense enough. If we could 
increase it, it would be the best apple that I know. 2 
mo. 10, 1849. 
The Jonathan is better than it was a few weeks 
ago, because riper, and at this time I prefer it to the 
Spilzenburgh, which has rather deteriorated. 3 mo. 
15, 1849. 
Manning's Green Sweet is dry and crumbly; keeps 
well, but is scarcely fit for the table. 
Domine remains remarkably without withering. It 
seems to have lost no moisture. Its flavor is very 
agreeable, though too much diluted. 3 mo. 15, 1849. 
Deck’s Pleasant bears every year, and is always free 
from the smut (lichen) on its surface. Its muskiness 
renders it more acceptable to some, and it is a very 
rich fruit besides. A gentleman lately, while eating 
one, pronounced it superior to all other known apples. 
Mid-winter appears to be the period of its greatest ex¬ 
cellence. When kept in a warm place, the skin has 
generally become embrowned; but perhaps this may 
have arisen from white frosts before the apples were 
gathered. They do not keep as well as the Swaar. 
P. S. They appear to have been injured by frost on 
the tree,—because on one side (the most exposed,) 
they are injured to the depth of a line or more, while 
they are nearly or quite free .on the other side. From 
this circumstance, it would seem that they ought to be 
gathered early. 
6 mo. 1, 1849. Our two best keeping apples at this 
time, are the Jonathan and Golden Russet. [Not the 
Am. Golden Russet or Bullock’s Pippin.] They also 
retain their flavor well, especially the latter. 
Red Astrachan. This is the best very early apple 
for cooking in my collection, and I doubt if we have 
any late one that is equal to it for this purpose. Every 
freeholder that has room for a tree, ought to have at 
least one of this sort; and having proved its value, he 
would not be easily tempted to do without it. Even in 
this unfavorable season, the fruit is very fair; but it is 
too acid for the dessert. 8 mo. 15, 1849. 
Rose Bugs.- —We observe a successful recommenda¬ 
tion in some of the papers, of a mode of protecting rare 
and valued sorts of roses from rose bugs, by means of 
cheap gauze or other fine netting, placed in the form 
of a bag over the bush. 
* Doubtless only occasional. Ed. 
Horticultural Items. 
Pears on Apple Stocks. —There are very few 
varieties of the pear which will succeed well on apple 
stocks, and those few are by no means attended with 
invariable success. A neighbor has found no pear to 
grow better when grafted or budded into the apple, 
than the Vicar of Winkfield, few failures occurring, and 
the young trees growing vigorously. The following 
statement, however, from the editor of the New Eng¬ 
land Farmer, shows the importance of not hastily 
adopting this mode of raising the trees:—“ We have a 
scion of the Yicar of Winkfield pear that has been 
growing five or six years on an apple tree. The fruit, 
is always hard and never ripens.” 
Raising Onions. —'S. Williams, of Waterloo, N. Y., 
states in the Gen. Farmer, that the best way to obtain 
early onions, is to “plant the black seed after the 
summer drouths are over, take them up in November 
and put them in the cellar—and in April set them out 
in beds. They will soon mature, and are much better 
than what are called top-onions. If you have a few 
small onions in the ground all winter, they will come 
forward very early in the spring, and may be eaten as 
a salad, tops and all.” 
Table Grapes at Cincinnati. —The report of the 
Hamilton County Agricultural Society in Ohio, states 
that not less than 500 bushels of Catawba and Isabella 
grapes were sold at Cincinnati during the past season, 
for u table use.” The price was three to four dollars 
per bushel. 
Strawberries —230 bushels per acre. —The Hor¬ 
ticulturist states that a cultivator at New 7 burgh raised in 
1848, on a bed measuring ten feet by twenty, thirty- 
four quarts of Hovey’s Seedling strawberry, or at the 
rate of 230 bushels per acre. The soil was trenched 
two feet deep, very heavily manured from the stable, 
and subsequently with poudrette, with some ashes and 
salt. The whole was w T orked over two or three times; 
the plants were set out in the spring of 1847, and the 
crop gathered in 1848. 
In the latter part of summer 1847, the bed was 
enlarged to 24 feet by twenty, by the addition of 
Swainstone Seedling and Black Prince, with similar 
manuring. In 1849 the whole bed (including the 
Hovey’s) bore about 80 quarts, or over 200 bushels per 
acre. The editor of the Horticulturist states that at 
least four times as much manure was used as is usuallj 
employed in preparing strawberry beds. 
Peaches at the South. —M. W. Phillips, of Ed¬ 
wards, Miss., in a communication to the Horticulturist, 
says that the two best very early peaches at that place 
are the Tillotson and Serrate Early York. They 
ripened the present year about the 6th of 6t.h month 
(June.) The Tillotson proves to be of healthy and 
rapid growth, and bears better than the Early York, 
which is rather preferred in flavor, but is liable to rot. 
Cole’s Early Red proves to be a fine peach, but. inferior 
to the others. 
Black Prince Strawberry. —James Dougall, of 
Amherstburgh, C. W., says that with him the plants 
of this variety are quite hardy and resist both cold and 
heat; and that on his soil it is more than twice as pro¬ 
ductive as Hovey’s Seedling. The Cincinnati Hudson 
is the strongest grower he possesses, and is by far the 
most prolific bearer. 
Salt as Manure.— -The editor of the New England 
Farmer says, “ Corn and beans have flourished well 
where we have planted them on lands overflowed by 
salt water at the time of high tides in the spring and 
fall; but on the same lands potatoes were inferior just 
as far as the salt water extended.” 
