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The Cherry and Versailles currants have by some been considered 
identical. In our tests, the first fruits of the Cherry ripened a few 
days earlier, which was the only perceptible difference. 
Of the Black currants, Baldwin’s Black was several days later in 
maturing its fruit than of others of its class. With this exception, 
we observed very little difference in them, except that Lee’s Black 
Prolific was rather the most productive. 
The Missouri Large Fruited, the Ribes aureum of Botanists, is 
well known from its showy, spicy scented, yellow flowers, which 
come out in early spring. The fruit is of little value in our climate, 
being very acid, and produced only in small quantities. It is said, 
however, to make excellent jelly. The shrub is perhaps more gen- 
erally prized for its flowers than for its fruits. 
The Missouri Sweet Fruited currant, (Ribes floridum), is a wonder- 
fully vigorous, spreading shrub, bearing small, black, slightly sweet 
berries, which ripen late and are of indifferent quality. It propa- 
gates from self-sown seed, and self-formed layers. Could a variety 
of this fruit be obtained having a more decided character to its 
fruit, it might prove very valuable. The remarkable health and 
vigor of the plant, and the fact that it seems entirely free from insect 
injuries, would make it of easy culture and reliable for crop. 
Of the gooseberries, Smith’s Improved was earliest to ripen, and 
Mountain Seedling latest. Downing was best in flavor, and with 
perhaps the exception of Houghton, was most productive. The 
largest berries of the American varieties grew on Mountain Seed- 
ling, though the fruit was more uniformly large on Downing. An 
English gooseberry, supposed to be Wellington’s Glory, bore fruit 
of very large size, which was entirely free from mildew. 
Notes on the Huckleberry. 
The plants of the huckleberry, Vacciniwm corymbosum, set out in 
the spring of 1883, are still alive, and matured some fruit the past 
season. We have found difficulty in growing seedlings of this fruit, 
as the young plants are very delicate, and require the most careful 
treatment, which, with our numerous other duties, we have not as 
yet been able to give them. 
We made an examination of the flowers of the species noted above, 
in order to learn at what time the stamens yield their pollen. This 
seems to be given off immediately before, and for a short time after 
the corolla opens. By opening the corolla of flowers about to expand, 
and jarring the blossoms vigorously over a glass slide, we secured 
pollen in considerable quantities, which is an indication that the 
flowers may be, at least in part, self-fertilized. Nothing appeared in 
the structure of the flowers to render artificial crossing difficult. 
The flowers appeared to be little visited by insects, with the excep- 
tion of ants, which secured access to the honey by gnawing a small 
hole through the corolla tube near the base. This tube is so narrow 
as to prevent the entrance of any but quite small insects. 
An Haperiment for the Prevention of Apple Scab. 
We made a series of applications intended to prevent the growth 
of the fungus which produces the apple scab, Fusicladium dendriti- 
