i3 2 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
Iln IRurser^ IRows. 
Apple Opalescent. —From the Dayton Star Nurseries, Dayton, O., 
says Meehan’s Monthly, we have a sample of the Opalescent apple, a 
seedling from an old orchard near by. It is rather larger than our best 
specimens of Baldwin, but resembling it in all other characters, and 
this is high praise. 
Steens Seedling App,.e. —Sterns seedling apple was generally 
considered the most promising seedling at this year’s New York state 
fair, says Prof. Van Deman. It was grown from seed of a Spitzenburg, 
by Charles L. Sterns, of North Syracuse, N. Y., and came into bearing 
at six or seven years of age. It is much larger and flatter in shape 
than the Spitzenburg, and brighter in color, being generally overspread 
with red. The quality is considered fully as good as Gravenstein. 
Sweet Crab Apple.— This should be called the honey crab, as it is 
as sweet as an apple can be, and the jelly made from it is the nearest 
imitation of honey of anything that I have ever tasted, says Samuel 
Miller. It is in size between the Siberian and Transcendent, yellow 
ground, often nearly covered with red. My only tree is dead with the 
exception of a few limbs. I just gathered about a bushel, and fearing 
that the tree may fail entirely by another year, I will take buds from 
it now. The part of the tree bearing seems healthy and has made fresh 
wood. 
Strawberries Up to Date. —Crescent, Champion and Bubach are 
all old varieties and out of date with the people who wish to secure the 
best prices, says L. J. Farmer, Pulaski, N. Y. The Bubach is spoken 
of as the latest, etc. The fact is that the Bubach is not a late berry- 
It is rather early to medium in ripening. The bulk of our own ship¬ 
ments this year were of the Seaford, Clyde, Ridgeway, Barton, Glen 
Mary, Atlantic, Star and Ruby. It was quite frequently remarked by 
other shippers that they were behind the times on varieties and 
that is why our berries sold several cents ahead of others right along, 
day after day. Our varieties were up to date. 
Wolf River Apple. — A. D. Barnes, Waupaca Co., Wis.—“ This 
is the largest apple grown in America. It originated in this county, 
and the orginal tree is 51 years old and still alive. It takes from 56 to 
64 apples to make a bushel.” D. F. Thompson, Stephenson Co., Ill.— 
“ The tree is very hardy here. The apples are almost as large as 
pumpkins, but rot on the tree before maturing.” M. S. Kellogg, Rock 
Co., Wis.—“ This is our best commercial fall apple. It is extra large 
in size and the tree is a very heavy bearer. The tree is iron-clad.” 
W. H. Ragan, Putnam Co., Ind.—“This is a valuable large apple of 
the Russian type. The tree is hardy, but, like many of its class, is in¬ 
clined to twig blight some seasons.” 
Columbian Raspberry.— J. T. Thompson, the originator of the 
Columbian raspberry, handles the plants in the following manner: 
The Columbian does not “ sucker,” and to produce new plants, bend 
down the new canes and bury the tips three or four inches in the 
ground, nearly perpendicular ; this is done between August 20 and Sep¬ 
tember 5, and substantially covers the first season’s management. I 
leave the field in this condition through the winter. The second year, 
in early spring, I dig the tip plants, preparing the best for market, and 
rest are reset for transplants ; I trim the bushes two or three feet high, 
the lateral branches about ten inches from the main stem. At this 
time, fertilizers can be applied broadcast. Give thorough cultivation 
to within a few days of fruiting time, follow with straw mulch at the 
rate of two tons per acre. 
Iowa’s Apple Industry. —Secretary Wesley Greene of the Iowa 
State Horticultural Society figures that the decline in the apple indus¬ 
try in the state during the past fifteen years is at least one-half. He is 
working on a table which will give accurate statistics on this subject 
for the first time in the history of the state. Mr. Greene attributes the 
falling off to the fact that the nurserymen of Iowa have not given their 
attention to the cultivation of hardier varieties, and says until the hor¬ 
ticulturists realize that they must grow an apple which they can use 
for both the home market and shipment out of the state, the industry 
will remain in a state of decline. The falling off in the bearing trees 
from 1885 to 1895 is, estimated at two to one and the falling off in non¬ 
bearing trees at three to one. There has been a decline of 66J per cent, 
in the planting of nursery stock. 
All-Summer Apple.— This is frequently asked about, says Samuel 
Miller, Bluffton, Mo. It is in no catalogue, but is in my possession. It 
is to my notion about the most valuable summer apple we have. It com¬ 
mences to ripen in June and usually lasts until September. One good 
sized tree will supply an ordinary family for over two months. Size, 
a little below medium ; white, with sometimes a blush ; quality good. 
It originated in Conestoga Center, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, 
some forty years ago, brought into notice by Casper Hiller, a horticul¬ 
turist of long experience. Of this variety I have had trees in the nur¬ 
sery where the roots had been cut by digging trees up beside them, 
loaded with fruit when three years old. As stated before this I cannot 
understand why it has no place in the nurseries. I furnished the Pom- 
ological Department, Washington, D. C., with specimens in which 
they took a lively interest. 
Strawberry-Raspberry .— 1 The strawberry raspberry (Rubus sorbi. 
folius, from Japan), has developed characteristics as the plantings be¬ 
come more thoroughly established, that promise permanent value, for 
amateur planting, at least, says the editor of the Rural New Aorker. 
A few short rows, set in 1894, in rather moist, loamy soil, have formed 
a dense mat several times the original area, holding their own against 
all weeds and other growths, and producing annually a really immense 
crop of strikingly beautiful fruits. They receive no fertilization and 
pratically no cultivation, as the innumerable suckers have long since 
blockaded the furrows. I may sum up personal conclusions as follows : 
Merits: 1, absolute hardiness in this latitude; 2, great vigor and per¬ 
manence when established in favorable locations; 3, ease of culture, re¬ 
quiring but trifling care: 4, productiveness, and beauty of fruit and 
plant. Defects: 1, lack of generally agreeable flavor; 2, berries too 
soft for transportation when fully ripe ; 3, early blooms much marred 
by rose chafers, causing imperfect setting of fruits; 4, difficulty of ex¬ 
termination when once established in the soil. 
Dawson Hybrid Roses. —For the past fifteen years Jackson Daw¬ 
son has been experimenting in rose hybridization, giving special atten¬ 
tion to the natural species as grown at the Arnold Arboretum, and 
it is only recently that, encouraged b^r the progress he has made with 
multiflora, rugosa and Wichuraiana, others have also taken up a sim¬ 
ilar line of work. The future now appears very promising for this type 
of roses, whose hardiness, vigor and variety and beauty of flower and 
foliage are sure to make for them an unprecedented popularity for 
garden and park decorative purposes, says the American Florist. The 
two varieties illustrated are among the best of Mr. Dawson’s produc¬ 
tions up to date. W. C. Egan is a hybrid between Rosa Wichuraiana 
and General Jacqueminot. The flower is double, pink, closely resemb¬ 
ling Souvenir de la Malmaison. Minnie Dawson is a single pink hybrid 
between Rosa multiflora and Mme. Gabriel Luizet. Mr. Dawson uses 
multiflora, Wichuraiana and rugosa for seed parents invariably, his 
experience being that the crosses of the second generation forms are 
never so vigorous or hardy as those from the original parents. This is 
in line with Waterer’s method in hybridizing rhododendrons. Mr. 
Dawson has now some five or six hundred young seedling roses as yet 
unflowered. 
Riga Pine. —Regarding this type of White pine, Professor J. L. 
Budd. Ames, la., says: Such evergreen growers as Douglas, of Wau. 
kegan, Ill ; Hill, of Dundee, Ill.; Charles Gardner, of Osage, Iowa; 
Hoyt, of Scotch Grove, Iowa, and Bragg, of Waukee, Iowa, now grow 
the Riga type of White pine. At Riga, Russia, more tons of pine seeds 
are put on the market each year than at any other point in the world. 
We have seen over fifty wagons with high side boards coming into 
Riga in solid line at one time loaded with Riga pine cones. The seeds 
are taken out by placing the cones, a wagon load at the time, in im¬ 
mense revolving cylinders with perforated sides. These revolve in a 
steam heated room with a temperature of over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. 
The dry heat opens the scales of the cones, letting the seeds drop 
through a slatted floor to a lower and less heated floor. On this floor 
the seed is packed for shipment to all parts of the temperate zone. 
The relatively worthless Scotch pine seed is gathered in the Province 
of Alsace, Germany. The sandy tract on which the cone producing 
pines grow, has in time developed a scrubby, worthless type which 
has no market value in Europe. It has been almost wholly sent to the 
United States, but, as stated, our leading evergreen nurseries of the 
West now use the Riga seed. When young it is difficult to detect any 
material difference in the two varieties, except that the Riga is upright 
and its foliage has less of the blue tinge than the scrub variety from 
Alsace. 
