174 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
fruit and plant Notes._ 
CRANBERRY PIPPIN. (APPLE.) 
Form, oblate, conical; size, medium to large; color, yellow, overlaid 
with stripes and blotches; size, medium; skin, roughish and blotched 
with russet; cavity, deep, round smooth; stem, f to 1-inch curved; 
basin, shallow, ridged; calyx, small, closed or open; flesh, white; quality, 
subacid, mild, lacking flavor, poor; texture, fibrous; core, small, 
closed; seed, small, brown; season, midwinter or later. 
General Notes.— Originated in eastern New York, in the Hudson 
River section, Ben Davis type. Very close to that variety in many 
characteristics specimen received from Craighurst, Ont., Dec. 2, '02. 
Described by John Craig. Date, December 2, ’02. 
THE PEACH CROP. 
The East, especially New England, has rejoiced in an abundant crop 
of peaches. In Connecticut growers were very busy during the month 
of September harvesting their extensive crops. The dry weather, how¬ 
ever, of August and the early part of September checked the growth of 
the fruit, and the subsequent wet weather injured its quality somewhat. 
As a rule, eastern peaches were not up to the standard of quality. This 
was to be charged to the peculiarities of the weather. 
BEN DAVIS UNDER FIRE. 
The old question of the value of Ben Davis as a commercial variety 
was very adroitly brought to the fore at the Kansas City meeting of the 
American Pomologi- 
cal Society by the 
newspaper instincts 
of one of the report¬ 
ers of a Kansas City 
paper. During the 
course of an address 
of welcome Mayor 
Neff referred in joc¬ 
ular terms to the 
quality of the Ben 
Davis, stating that 
while he was an in¬ 
veterate fruit eater, 
yet he always" shied” 
when the Ben Davis 
appeared before him. 
Very much was made 
out of this joking re¬ 
mark, and some of 
the champions of this 
variety in the middle 
West took it serious¬ 
ly to heart. This was 
probably due to the fact that the headlines of the article, credited the 
Pomological Society with fathering the sentiment expressed by Mayor 
Neff. The newspaper discussion gave rise to a resolution by one of the 
Kansas members, re-instating Ben Davis in public favor, and commit 
ting the Pomological Society to a sponsorship. This kind of action is 
entirely unknown to American pomological councils, and was promptly 
side-tracked. We notice that a good deal has been made out of the 
incident by the Packer and similar papers, who drew into the contro¬ 
versy the name of Mr. Louis Erb, of Missouri, and others. Mr. Erb has 
taken up the cudgels in defense of Ben Davis, and has cleared his skirts 
of all suspicion of any weakening in his estimation of the merits of 
that variety. 
The truth of the matter is that the American Pomological Society pub¬ 
lishes a catalogue of fruits, in which each variety is given a place as to 
adaptation and quality. This catalogue is open to all persons who may 
wish to consult it; therefore, the society does not feel called upon to 
take up a single variety and discuss it by itself. Such discussions are 
usually unprofitable. 
BREEDING HARDY APPLES FOR THE CANADIAN NORTH¬ 
WEST-SUBSTANTIAL PROGRESS. 
A very interesting and apparently most valuable line of plant breed¬ 
ing was inaugurated by the Canadian Experiment Farms in 1887, and is 
now approaching the period of fruition. The great wheat regions of 
Manitoba and the territories to the north and west were practically 
without a variety of apple hardy enough to live and bear fruit. Some 
exceptions to this statement might be made in behalf of the more 
favored portions of Manitoba, but it is true of the extensive region west¬ 
ward. In the testing work of the fruit stations it was discovered that 
the only form of apple which succeeded was the Berry Crab of Siberia. 
Seed of this was obtained from the Botanic Gardens of St. Petersburg, 
and young trees were grown and distributed in large quantities. Subse¬ 
quent experiments showed that it was hardy. The next step was to im- • 
prove it. This was done by crossing with cultivated and hardy forms 
of the apple. The results of these crosses are that about eight hundred 
varieties have been produced, many of which have much promise. The 
fruit of the Berry Crab is berry like in size. The fruit of the hybirds is 
often intermediate between the small crab and the apple. The director 
of the Canadian Experimental Farms says that there have been obtained 
up to the present time twenty varieties, which from their superior 
size and quality may be regarded as useful for domestic purposes and de¬ 
serving of more extended trial. 
The fruit of all these crosses appears to ripen early, and though crab like 
in quality, is appreciated where better varieties cannot be grown. The 
interesting thing about it is that many of them are apparently as hardy 
as the Pyrus baccata, which as stated before, is a standard of hardiness. 
Stock of some of the leading varieties of these new seedlings have been 
sent to the principal nurseries in Canada, and in this way they are being 
introduced to com¬ 
merce. Of course the 
great wheat growing 
section of the north¬ 
west will never be 
noted for fruit, but a 
few fruit trees around 
every homestead will 
do much towards 
making the place 
homelike, and will 
vastly increase the 
comforts of the dwel¬ 
ler on the praries. 
W. Colpitts. 
Alberta. 
THE RUSSIAN 
MULBERRY. 
We could not help 
being struck with the 
thought that this fur¬ 
nished a fine lot of 
bird food during the 
last week of June and the forepart of July. In fact, one or two trees 
under observation, fruited throughout the entire month of July. The 
amount of fruit and its habit of fruiting makes one quite enthusiastic 
over this tree as an addition to the home garden of the amateur in 
the northern part of the country. Some years ago 25 or 30 Russian 
mulberries were planted in various parts of the Cornell University 
Campus. These trees have given just as many varieties of fruit as 
there were individual trees. The color has varied from pinkish white 
to almost if not full dead black, and in flavor, from a dead sweet to a 
brisk, lively acid. 
There was hardly a day during July that you could not pick—or per¬ 
haps one should say shake, because shaking is the better way—a quart 
of berries from a tree in the horticultural grounds. This particular tree 
bore fruit larger than an ancient Briton blackberry. The berries are juicy 
and too sweet to be palatable. Another tree near by, bore fruit of really 
excellent quality—fruit that one could eat with much satisfaction off the 
tree, but perhaps too sweet for cooking. Of course one of the week 
points of all the mulberries is that the fruit is almost untransportab'le. Its 
tenderness of skin makes it almost impossible to carry any it distance 
and offer it in presentable form. Then again, the thin stem forms a 
fibrous core in the fruit which is an objectionable feature. 
The writer recalls very vividly a pomological epoch of 20 years ago in 
which the mulberry figured as a prominent factor. It was about the 
Cutleaf Birch and Weigela. Both in strong demand and are freely propagated. 
W. & T. Smith Co., Geneva, N. Y. 
