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1 2 3

REPORT

RUSSIAN FRUITS.

I!Y

CHARLES GIBB, Abbottsford, Que.

A Paper prom thk Eiouth Report of thk

MONTREAr, HORTIOUI.TURAI, SOCIKTY.

" WITNESS " PRINTIN(^ HOUSE, ST. JAMES STREET, WEST

1883.

REPORT

EUSSIAN FEUITS.

■^■^■', .,

CHARLES GIBB, Abbottsford, Que.

A Paper from the Eighth Report op the
Montreal Horticultural Societt,

^onlrtal :
" WITNESS •' PRINTING HOUSE, ST. JAMES STREET, WEST.

1883.

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RUSSIAN FRUITS.

BY CHARL£S GIBB. AHBOTTSFORD.

It may seem strange that the fruits of Russia are so little
known in this country, scarcely known even in Germany, that the
fruits of one part of Russia are often but little known in another.

Our fruits came to us, as it were, by chance. In the days of
the old French Colony, the peasants of Normandy and Brittany
brought with them the seeds and perhaps the scions of the apples
they loved most in their native land. Later, the Englishman
introduced his favorite fruits and the Scotchman his ; in time ther
matter became commercial, and we soon had under trial in*
Canada and in the Eastern States all the best fruits of the mit^
humid portion of Western Europe.

That not until 1882 we should have begun to explore our own*
like climates in the old world seems strange indeed I

The fruits of Western Euroi)e and their pure offspring born om
this continent, as a rule, are not long-lived upon the Westerm
prairies above latitude 43^, not a success above 45^ in this-
Province, and that only in exceptionally favorable localities. In.
Eastern Russia we find fruit growing a profitable industry ini
climates decidedly more severe than that of the City of Quebec.
Hence we may expect to increase the area of fruit culture north-
ward upon this continent very largely.

The uncertainty of these fruit trees of Western Europe in the
severer climates, had led to large importations by the State Agri-
cultural College at Ames, Iowa. (See 7th Report Montreal Hort..
Soc, p. 151.) Prof. Budd ha;d gathered there the: largest collection >

of fruits for severe climates, which I know to exist ; but such was
the uncertainty of nomenclature, such the difficulty of getting
exact information as to their probable value, that the work of
sorting out the best seemed a work of many years. Northern
horticulturalists were looking with great hdpe to the Russian
fruits. The work could not be allowed to rest. Some one had to
go to Russia. Mr. Budd and I went.

Those acquainted with Mr. Budd's work on the College farm
at Ames, will readily see that several valuable lines of thought in
this report are not mine but his.

To our Provincial and Canadian Governments I am indebted
for the kind and hearty way in which they seconded my efforts by
giving me such introductions to the Imperial Government as
enabled me to follow up my work in Russia.

To the Department of Public Domains, and the Department of
the Interior of the Imperial Government at St. Petersburg, I am
indebted for the kind way in which they afforded us every assist-
ance possible.

To our Botanical and Forestry friends my best thanks are due.
In fact, one of the chief retrospective pleasures of my journey in
Russia, was the kindness of my Russian friends, the kindness of
my Polish friends.

: Our work created some interest in Russia. Often, when
speaking to people we happened to meet, we found that they
knew all about our visit through notices in the Russian press.
'At St, Petersburg it was intimated that a Commissioner would,
most probably, be sent next year to Canada and to the United
States, to do work similar to that which we had done in Russia.
Our fruits he will find pretty well catalogued, pretty well looked
up. As soon as we know of his coming, means must be taken to
insure his obtaining all possible information, and that in as short
a time as possible. • '" ■ <' - . •■ : '■'■'■"

v..i ., •;■.■• JJ.' n: -'Jr . n ■ -.■ f : - i . . / '<■.■■ .•■,■ i

- Nomenclature in Russia is hopelessly confused. Different
names are given to the same apple in different localities, the same
name to different apples growing in adjacent districts. So many
names, however formidable they may sound in Russian, mean

merely round white, white sweet, white transparent, &c., names
without individuality. Fortunately, a few names have been fixed
by commercial demand, and are known by the same names
throughout Russia.

One great difficulty in Russian nomenclature arises from the
strong family likeness of seedlings of like parentage. A hardy
race of the apple, seemingly more nearly allied to the wild form
than the cultivated apples of Western Europe, has been grown for
many centuries by seedling production, and has been reproducing
itself from seed. Yet this is not strange news to us. Some
families of apples, even when surrounded by apples of other types,
have a strong tendency to reproduce themselves in their seedlings.
The Gilpin or Little Romanite, Mr. Budd tells me, has been
producing seedlings like itself in the West. The Calville family,
too, is a striking example. Our Fameuse has a large progeny of
strong parental likeness, and many think that two or more dis-
tinct varieties are commonly propagated under this name.

In Russia there is no standard of nomenclature, no authority
that answers to the American Pomological Society or Downing,
yet fruits received from that country must be propagated on this
continent, as far as possible, under fixed, unchangeable names.
The collections of apples on the farm of the State Agricultural
College at Ames, Iowa, already number over 400 varieties, inclu-
sive, no doubt, of many duplicates ; additions, too, are being made
from different parts of Russia. The collections received a year or
two ago embraced most, not all, yet most of the best varieties
grown in Russia. We must have, on this continent, one fixed
standard of nomenclature, and it would seem best that it should
emanate from Ames.

The converting of the Russian names into English needs
some thought. We have not the sounds in English to render
them exactly. In this matter our aim must be simplicity. We
need names our farmers can spell and pronounce rather than a
labored but more accurate rendering of the Russian sound. We
have usually fallen in with the spelling in the list published by
the Department of Agriculture at Washington, especially where

mean

varieties sent out by them have become known. However, the
sound "ov" or "off" positively must not be spelled " ou " or
" ow " as in Antonouka, Titowka, and for convenience we have
used " ov " as in Antonovka, Titovka.

But one book, I believe, has been written on Russian Pomo-
logy, that by Dr. Edward Kegel, Director o the Imperial Botanic
Gardens at St. Petersburg, and published in 1868. This book was
criticized severely, at the time of its issue, by some of the Euro-
pean journals ; but I cannot help feeling that the critics did no
take in a full view of the situation. Dr. Kegel, in the fickle
climate of St. Petersburg, was unable to test very many of the
varieties he described, able only to describe them as received,
and under such names as they were received by. The fact is. Dr.
Kegel did his full fair share towards the doing of a great work,
and, as Mr. Budd observed, had this been followed up by the
organization of a National Pomological Society, Russian nomen-
clature would now be in a very different state.

Mr. Shroeder, of the Agricultural College at Petrovskoe
Rasumovskoe at Moscow, has very complete notes compiled from
specimens and information received from different parts of Russia.
These apples were, for the most part, received for trial on the
College Farm, but I regret to say, that the unusual cold of the
winter of 1877 and the cold clay soil upon which they are
planted has been against them.

This collection was very large and contained the greater part
of the best apples of the steppe climates. It is much to be regret-
ted that these notes of Mr, Shroeder's, the work, in fact, has not
been published. Mr. Shroeder has not visited the orchards from
whence the grafts and fruits were obtained, yet his notes we found
singularly exact. Such was the opinion we gradually formed as
we continued our work in the Russian orchards.

Pomology is a neglected science in Russia. What has been
done seems to be local individual work, not united work. Strange
this neglect on the part of a Government which has founded such
Botanic gardens, a Government which has done such noble work,
for future generations in its Forestry Department. ' " . '■'-■■"

ON CLIMATES.

The true index to a climate is the flora in its Botanic gardens;
faulty 9nly from the fact that these gardens are usually situated
under the sheltering influence of some large town, and therefore,
not a true record of what might be grown in bleak exposures in
the same latitude.

The same is true of the meteorological stations. They, too
often, like our McGill College Observatory, record the tempera-
ture and winds of a sheltered city rather than that of the open
country.

We frequently heard of very low temperatures in Russia,
which do not seem verified by the Government records. Ther-
mometers often differ at very low temperatures, especially when
below-forty. Yet the statements I quote in my report were made
by careful observers, usually men on the Forestry Staff, and I
therefore, with this caution, state the temperatures as given to me.
In this part of Canada we suffer from drought but not from dim-
inished rain-fall. I must explain this apparent contradiction.
England is a land of verdure, the lawns are like velvet, the trees
and thatched roofs covered with moss. What a contrast to our
dry climate, and yet the annual rain-fall of London is nearly thir-
teen inches less than that of Montreal. It is from aridity of air,
and consequent rapid evaporation that we suffer.

In Russia we find fruit cultivated largely in climates where the
conditions of extreme cold, dryness of air, and scanty rain-fall are
greatly intensified.

In the Government of Kasan, above latitude 55 where the
winter temperature is five degrees lower than in the city of
Quebec, the rain-fall a good deal less than one-half, the evapora-
tion as great, we find apple growing a great commercial industry^
the industry, in fact, in twelve peasant villages. This is the coldest

profitable orchard region of the world, and the conditions of
growth deserve study. The soil upon these exposed bluffs is a
fine comminuted dusty clay, like a "loess." For retaining moisture,
for absorbing it, for holding frost without injury to the roots,
there is no better. The dry fall here causes perfect maturity of
growth : the thick, fine textured leaf does not suffer from the dry-
ness of the air. It was Mr. Budd, whose microscopic study of
the leaves of these climates first showed their peculiar cell
structure. Thus we see that the apple tree of Kasan is a tree
thoroughly adapted to the climate it lives in. However, the cold
of Kasan seems more uniform than ours. In this Province we
suffer from the warmth of the sun in late winter and early spring,
warmth followed by sudden cold. This results in " bark-bursting "
and "sun-scalding" of the trunk and lower branches. Such
injury is rare in Eastern and Middle Russia, but how much this is
owing to climate, how much to the character of their hardy race of
trees I cannot say. In Kasan, too, we find the cherry and the plum
grown in fair quantity — that is, nearly all the peasants have some.

In the Government of Vladimir, a climate scarcely different
from that of Kasan, the cherry is grown in vast quantity and
shipped by the car load. Upon what kind of soil I cannot say.

At Simbirsk on the Volga, in lat. 54, a climate just like Kasan,
a degree less cold, and about one inch less rain-fall, we find the
pear grown in fair quantity though only of second-rate quality.
These trees, too, are thoroughly adapted to that climate, trees of
terminate growth, with very thick, close-textured, dark glossy
foliage, just like the pears of Northern China. Simbrisk and Toula
seem to be the Northern limits of pear culture East of the Baltic
Provinces.

At Saratof, on the Volga, in lat. 5 1 , where the winter temper-
ature is but one degree milder than the City of Quebec, we find
very large orchards, one of 12,000 trees. A pear orchard, too, of
500 trees, and most of the varieties in good health. Yet here we
were told that the naercury at times became solid. So near is
Saratof to the desert steppes, so light the rain-fall, that irrigation
is necessary for profitable orcharding.

■. f •■,' V.

Kursk and Voronesh, in lat. 51, are the most southern of the
points of special interest in Middle Russia. I fancy their climate
to be rather colder than that of sheltered city gardens in Mon-
treal, about as cold, I should say, as our exposed mountain slope
at Abbottsford.

Kiev is decidedly milder, more like Toronto.

St. Petersburg is in lat. 60, so far North that the stars cease
to be visible during two months in summer, the sun is too short
a distance below the horizon. A cold coast climate ; a Gasp6 or
Anticosti climate, one would suppose. A cool short summer, a
long changeable winter, not colder on an average than Montreal,
but subject to greater extremes of sudden cold. Early terminate
growth is the special characteristic needed here.

Warsaw is a cold North German, rathe.- than a Russian
steppe climate.

I have to tender my thanks to Mr. Robert P. Scott, Secretary
of the Meteorological Office in London, for his kindness in having
prepared for me a table of the temperatures, humidity, &c., of
certain points in Russia and Germany, and by way of contrast, of
Canada also.

These tables are a great help towards our forming a correct
idea of those climates from which we may expect so many of our
future fruits.

IK./M-f

MBA1 TKMPRBATUBB.

Loweit

Temp.

in Ihs*^

8ix Yean.

Loweit

Temp.

In 18d7.

Average

Moisture

in the

Air.

Average
Annual
RalnfnlL

Authoritiei.

Yean.

Wlnfr.

Hum'r.

Uo.-Fb.

Ju. A({

f 174:^-1800 )
t 180.5-1875 f

Fabr.

•

Fabr.

Incbea.

•

20-5

St.Peterab'g

17-2

61-2

-35 7

-270

xii-76

1.31

Riga.... .

j 1795-1831 )
t 1840-1875 f

24-0

62-6

—26-5
I 76

—12-8
X1131

80
19

221
9

Moscow. .. .
Kasan

( 1779-1792 )
t 1810-1875 /

( 1812 1820 )
1 1827-1875 j

14-5
9-0

63-6
64.5

— :«-4
xn.76

— ?6 7
XIL75

-36-4
ii.l

80
11

23-4
11

17-3
8

Verhalt
Annalles

Repertori

Simbirsk....

1855-1864

9-9

64-8

?-2?-0

jn-77

I 1-78

18-7

c 3.

2 g-i

Saratof

/ 18:16-1857 1
t 1872-1875 (

15-3

68-6

?-26-7
iir75

181
3

Tula

1846-1847

15-4

64-9

Orel.

j 18:^8-1815 )
\ 1851-1863 f

('183:M8;J7)

15-8

65-6

24-66

en Rieche
ire de Ru

ogie (Kani

Kursk

{ 1810-1859 V

17-2

650

16-81

(1865-1808)

£ 1'^

(1802 1805^
< 1867-1869 >
(.1873-1875)

Voronesh

10-2

65.2

-34-2

27-7

1.80

Kief ... .

1812-1876
(1760-1763)

22-6

05-1

—23-6
11.80

77
11

22-9
11

Warsaw. ,

< 1779-1799 }

25-7

64-2

—16-8

80
11

22-2

(1803-1875)

Z1I.79

BovetKllmitolo-;

Berlin

16 years
? to 1808.

31-3

650

— 2-2

1.81

73
3

22-9
8

(iKche BeltrnKi-i
BLUlnche 8««WHr-
e ob«'u8 1879-Bl.

Vienna... .

1775-1874

30-9

67-5

-4-4
XII.79

7-9
iii.lO

211
34

Vienna ob«n'«.
IHHOri-tu.nii.)

Reutlingen .

2 years.

34-5

65-0

KllmatologUcbi
Buit.acH.

Montreal , . .

1870-1880

18-4

67-4

—25-2
XII 79

•73-97
8

38-53
11

IcanadUn Ann,
) Kt-porla.

Quebec

1870-1880

142

63-9

— 20-5
1.78

39-81
11

Toronto

1841-1881

23-8

65-3

—15-1
II.8I

-12-8
XII. 13

41
81

34-75

Toronto Oenrrtl i

London ....

25-17

Oree nw Ick

... * ■ . *

Dba'na.

The figures entered under the Relative Humidity and Rainfall are the nimiber ol:
years from which the means have been obtained.

The spaces left blank indicate that no information is available.
• This iteu kindly filled ia by Prof. McLeod, McQill College.

/lathorltiet.

3-
o
3.

B
►»

a s

^«^

•- al
%-%
%^\

CD S

W sr-!

C 1'
m 3

w a

ivc« Kllm'itolo-l
iche BeltMic*?

utM'ua 187t-«l.

VIenn* ob«n'i.
380rctu. nn.)

KHmatologlicht ;

Canadian Ann,
Kcporia.

'oronto Oenrril
:|ilater, UBl.

Oreenwick^

w'lia.

number o(

APPLES.

Amis. — This is the leading apple of the Volga, the apple tree
most highly prized, most largely grown. To the enquiry, which
are your most profitable varieties ? the reply invariably was Anis,
I think, invariably, my notes show no exception nor do I remem-
ber one. Such was the verdict in all the orchards of the different
towns and villages between Kazan and Saratof. We first met with
it in that curious semi-oriental bazaar, the Nijni Novgorod fair.
Here we find the Russian peasant orchardist bringing large quan-
tities of it to the bazaar in bark boxes, usually willow bark boxes,
holding about three bushels.

In the southern part of the Government of Kazan, in
latitude 55, the same latitude as Moscow, but 430 miles
to the east of it, in a continental climate, a climate of ex-
tremes, and yet 600 miles nearer the North Pole than the City
of Quebec, there are twelve villages where the peasant proprietors
are apple growers, the chief industry in fact is apple growing.
When we were there the little trees were loaded with fruit, yet the
thermometer had been down to forty below zero the winter pre-
vious. Five years before, during one day, the temperature on
these exposed loess bluffs was — 40 Reaumur, or 58 below zero by
Fahrenheiis thermometer. These low temperatures, however, do
not seem verified by the meteorological records in the City of
Kazan. Hearing of these low temperatures I looked for winter
injury to the trees, but did not find any traces of it.

In answer to the query, which is the hardiest apple tree you
have, the tree that has stood best the most trying winters .'' the
answer, I believe, always was Anis. The general idea there is
that it is of all kinds known, the apple tree that can be grown the
farthest North, except what they call the Chinese apple, or as we
would say, the Siberian crab, and these crabs, which are not
common, are true Siberian Prunifolias, and not less hardy hybrids.
In these villages the apple is grown, in a good season, cer-
tainly to the value of ^50,000. In this, the coldest profitable
orchard region in the world, the Anis is noted as their hardiest
tree. ' > ' • ^ .• ; :•

■J,-Mi-!:LJ^^'

■

Many species of trees become dwarfed towards the northern
limit of their growth. The most northern pines and spruces,
birches and poplars, are but little shrubs ; in the same way we find
this Anis in Kazan, especially when growing on thin soil and
without cultivation, loaded with fine fruit, and this, evidently, not
one of their fiiSt crops, and yet the trees not more than six feet
high. We find little trees planted two, three, and even four
together in a clump like stalks of corn, three or four to a hill, and
these clumps ten feet apart each way. This is strictly true of
some orchards, not so of others ; for upon richer and moister soil,
the trees grew somewhat larger, and, as we went southwards,
at each town we stayed at, we found the Anis larger, until, at
Saratof, we saw Anis thirty-five years planted which had attained
a diameter of trunk of ten inches. In nursery it is a slow and
crooked grower such as nurserymen hate to grow and hate to
sell after they have grown them. In orchard a slow grower.
Trees in different places, pointed out as thirty years planted,
seemed very small. In old orchards at Khvalinsk and elsewhere,
it was considered the most long-lived tree. We saw there, trees
seventy years at the very least. These were fourteen inches in
diameter of trunk, branched low as the Anis usually is, and,
though some large limbs had been removed some years ago, yet
the trees were sound in trunk and top.

The Volga is a very old apple growing region. I am told that
old poems, written about the time when Rurik was upon the
throne of Kiev, about 850, allude to this. The maiden whose
neck was like a swan, and whose lips were like cherries, had
cheeks like a Volga apple. The high color of the apples of this
dry region is very striking.

A wild rugged race of apple trees have been grown here for
many centuries from seedling production, until we have a number
of seedlings much alike in tree and fruit, and hence it is that the
name Anis is but a family name.

• As we used to gallop past these peasant orchards in our
Tarantass, a basket on wheels without springs usually drawn by
three horses abreast, we were always struck by the beauty, even

when some distance off, of one variety of the Anis. This is the
Anis Alui or Pink Anis, and, I suppose, the same as the Anis
Rosovoi or Rose Anis spoken of at Simbirsk and other places on
the Volga. It is an oblate apple of full medium size, or about
the size of the Fameuse, the colorof our Decarie. mostly a deep
pink with a light blue bloom. In these dry climates we may
expect high color. When we were on the Volga it was too early
to taste it in good condition, and besides this, it is often picked
too early, perhaps, to reach distant markets by a certain time.
Whether it will color and ripen on its way to market, like a
Duchess, or whether, like our St. Lawrence, it will almost cease to
mature after it is picked from the tree, I cannot say. The grain,
is fine, the flesh white and firm. It is really a dessert apple of
fine quality. It often sells at two roubles per pood, that is one
dollar per thirty-six po'.mds, when poorer fruit is selling at thirty
cents, and under Russian care it keeps till late winter or spring.

On account of its beauty and hence its salableness this Pink
Anis is the most valuable of the family, and, therefore, when
importing let us be sure to get it. It would seem to be the Anis
of Mr. Shroeder, at Petrovskoe, but would appear not to be the
Anis Alui of Kazan, of Dr. Regel, which is described as acid, and
valuable only for cooking, unless this is Dr. Regel's verdict of its
quality when grown in the cooler and moister summer of St.
Petersburg.

There are other varieties of the Anis which differ but little in
tree, yet differ more widely in texture of flesh, but they are not so
pretty. At Simbrisk the Blue Anis is spoken of as the best for
shipping very long distances as Perm and Siberia.

The Anis Belui, of Kazan, is not an Anis, but is an early
autumn yellow apple of small size and fine quality. It is not a
keeper, and yet is often gathered from the tree into a barrel of
buckwheat hulls and put at once into a cold place, and thus kept till
mid-winter and even later. As Mr. Budd suggests, this possibly
is the Anis Koritschnevoe of Mr. Shroeder.

Anisovka. — Under this name Mr. Shroeder tells us of a
medium sized, flat, yellowish green apple, with bright red side,

grown a good deal about Moscow, and said to be a very good
dessert fruit that keeps a long time, in fact all winter. Farther
south it would not keep so long. Mr, Goegginger, at Riga, gives
us a minute descriptiou of it, evidently the same apple, which he
says is grown a good deal at Moscow, and to the south, and
which proves hardy in these severe climates. However, he states
its season to be from November to December. Its value to us
would depend much upon itc keeping qualities. The Anisovka,
so named on the Volga near K -\zan, is a sweet apple ; that at
Orel, Voronesh. &c., was thought to be same as Anis or same as
Vosnikovka, a small yellow sweet apple said to oe grown there in
quantity. Such is the uncertain state of nomenclature.

Antonovka, — This is the leading apple of the Russian
steppes, the king apple of that vast prairie region from Tula to

ANTONOVKA.

the south of Kharkof, from Kozlof to Kiev, a vast prairie region
unsurpassed in fertility by any region on this continent. It is the

leading apple over a larger section of country than any other in
Europe, than any other apple I know of. No apple holds so high
a rank above others in any large section c this continent; and yet
if the Baldwin were equally hardy 1 would much prefer it.

We first meet with it in the cold climate of Tenki, in Kazan,
where it is looked upon as the best of the " introduced " apple
trees, and certainly the young trees .ve saw there were quite
promising. In all the towns on the Volga we find the Antonovka
noted as hardy as far as tried, and in some places, tried long
enough to be thoroughly relied upon.

It is, however, in Central Russia that we find the Antonovka
so highly prized. In the cold climate of Toula, in latitude 54,
about 120 miles south of Moscow, yet 480 miles farther to the
north than the city of Quebec, we find it considered their hardiest
and most productive apple tree. A young tree, twelve years planted,
is pointed out as having produced its eight poods, and old trees,
long past their prime, twenty-five poods. In one peasant orchard
we find the few scattered survivors of a previous orchard, nearly
all of these were Antonovka ; strange that this had stood while
other kinds alongside of it, intermingled with it, had been killed,
killed by a cold winter, I think in 1867.

In the Government of Tambof, half-way between Moscow and
Saratof, there was a large orchard of 2700 trees, only 730 of
which survived the winter of 1867, when mild warm rainy weather
was followed by sudden cold. Antonovka, though injured, was
not killed ; it and Anis stood the best. That winter, at Orel, in
February, the thermometer went down to 35 Rea., that is 46
Fahrenheit, and, in exposed places 37 Rea. or 51 Fahrenheit, and
yet Antonovka there is above all others their leading apple, and
the old trees we saw there were, as far as I can remember, in fine
health.

At Veronesh we hear the same opinion, and hear of trees that
have produced 27 poods or 972 pounds, nearly, half a ton, and
are told that although " other apples have their faults this has
none," It has its faults, but I quote this to show the widely
spread opinion of those who grow it. •• ■ •

At Kursk we still find it their leading market fruit, and on the
Bogdanoff estates, find it being planted in quantity as about the
best investment the proprietors know of. Such investments scatter
broadcast innumerable little dividends in the form of food and
labor. What a blessing to a country is a horticultural aristocracy —
it beget', a horticultural peasantry, a home- loving, peace-loving,
law-abiding peasantry. In Horticulture, we find the safest
anchorage for a peasant population. We asked, at the Bogdanoff
estates, why they specially chose Antonovka, and were planting //
so largely, and were told it was because it was always a cash article,
wanted in quantity for the northern market, for confections, for
drying, for bottling in water, &c., and, a tree, in good soil, and in
good seasons, can produce its twenty-five poods.

At the Forestry Convention, in Moscow, Mr. Budd asked" one
of the members, who was from Kiev, what were their best com-
mercial apples. He called three others, also from the Govern-
ment of Kiev, and after consulting together, named Antonovka
first. The second upon the list was the Winter Citronen Apfel,
a German apple of good quality, but not hardy farther north.

At Warsaw, where the climate is a cold North German rather
than a steppe climate, we find the Antonovka one of their leading
apples, but not their best, and there not a late keeper. Throughout
this vaste steppe region, the Antonovka is " the " commercial
apple, noted for its average annual bearing, its hardiness in
extreme climate, its length of life, and fruitfulness in old age in
these climates. It is, also, a first-rate nursery tree, a good straight
grower. In nurseries, when we found a number of rows of
straight-growing healthy trees, all of the same kind, it was sure to
be Antonovka. Hence it has '* a nursery run," just as the Ben
Davis had in Wisconsin a few years ago, and likely thus to be
over-rated ; tut in Central Russia it has been a century on trial,
perhaps several centuries, and the quantities of it to be found in
the Russian nurseries are grown to meet a known demand. It is
a prairie apple suited to rich prairie soils it would seem. It does
well on clayey soils and likes moisture. On dry sandy soil the
fruit is said to fall from the tree and to be small in size. The

id on the
bout the
ts scatter
■ood and
;ocracy —
:e-loving,
e safest
logdanoff
lanting ;/
ih article,
;ions, for
il, and in

sked one
)es<; com-
Govern-
ntonovka
en Apfel,
lorth.
an rather
ir leading
uroughout I
)mmercial
diness in
Id age in
•d straight
■ rows of
as sure to
3 the Ben
lus to be
J on trial,
B found in
nd. It is
It does
dy soil the
size. The

fruit is large, sometimes very larf^e, yellowish, oblong, somewhat
conic, acid or sub-acid with slight sweetness, rather coarse in
texture. When left upon the tree tiil fullv r.pe it is said to have
a fine melon flavor, but then it ceases to bo a long keeper. In
quality it is not quite like any apple I know. It may, certainly,
be rated as second quality for eating and, I hope, first for
cooking. But few of the best commercial apples of this continent
are of first quality as dessert apples. Its great fault is its color,
though this does not prevent its being in active demand in all the
Russian markets ; it is the color to show bruises, yet >. has the
name of being a good shipping apple. At Warsaw it rit.ely keeps
past Christmas. At Moscow, Mr. Shroeder cautiously says, till
January or February. In Central Russia it was often said till
March and, I think, even April was even mentioned. I doubt if
it will prove a much better keeper than our Fameuse.

How long an apple keeps depends very largely upon how it is
kept. The Russians handle their fruit, pack it and keep it, with
more care than we do. They seem to look upon an apple as a
living thing to be kept alive as long as possible. If allowed to
ripen on the tree it has a rich melon flavor but then it will not
keep. All apples in Russia picked for a distant market are picked
rather earlier than we should pick them. When we arrived at
Saratof, on September nth, the apples were all picked and
shipped to Moscow. At Tula, on September i8th, Antonovka
was in huge piles in the orchards five feet wide, covered with
basswood bark matting. At Orel we find what has not been
shipped in an open shed in layers with straw between them.

This tree, on account of its good name and its good
growth in nursery, is sure to become largely planted in this
country. Its success will depend partly upon its suitability to our
soil, but, and mainly, perhaps to the length of time it keeps under
our method of picking, packing and shipping.

Has the Antonovka run into varieties like so many other
apples by seedling production } The answer to this question
was usually in the negative, yet with one or two exceptions, and
at Tula, an apple was shown to us as the Doukavoya which

seemed to be none other than Antonovka, yet three fruit growers
there each declared it to be diatinct, and said it was as hardy and
as productive.

Possart's Nalivia is said, at the Pomological School at Warsaw,
to be a synonyme, Dr. Lucas, in one edition of his Pomology,
held this view, and, in another edition, thought not, and this
latter opinion is shared at Proskau and Riga.

Mr. Goegginger, of Riga, after a good deal of correspondence,
rather thought they were not identical. Mr. Fritz Lucas now
inserts it in his catalogr.e as a synonyme.

Aport. — This is ♦he family of which our Alexander is a mem-
ber, a large and widely scattered family and often of strong family
type. No accurate notes seem to have been taken of the places
where they live and thrive. We cannot in this country expect to
do such work ; the most we can do is to find out what is good
there, import and propagate it here.

It is named Aport because imported long ago from Oporto in
Portugal, just as another Russian apple which long ago found its
way into Virginia, comes back to Russia via Germany under the
name of Virginischer Rother.

Some of the apples we find under this name, show by their
features that they are near relations of the Emperor Alexander,
many others show no likeness whatever. Sometimes under other
names, we find typical apples, like the Borodovka Belui of Orel,
which is just like Alexander, but white. At Kursk too we find,
under the name of Sklianka, a fruit of Aport form, but almost with-
out color.

I am not sure that we saw the Alexander iii Russia, though I
believe it to be grown there. At Volsk we found a fruit very like
it, only wanting in that slight flatness of the vase which our
Alexander has. In the Kozlof market we find an apple just like it,
though perhaps slightly larger in calyx, but it proved somewhat
tough in texture, a sharp acid mingled with sweet, a fine apple,
and it would seem a pretty good keeper. At Orel we find another,
alike in look, but sweet, not as good as that in Kozlof or Veronesh
markets.

Mr. Shroeder describes Aport as a very large, flat, conic apple
with a red side, of aromatic flavor, not productive and too heavy
and liable to be blown from the tree, yet grown a good deal to the
South of Moscow, at Orel, Tula &c., the best of the Aports. This.
I suppose, is our Alexander, but I cannot be certain.

In the report of the Royal Hort. Soc. of London for 1822, the
Alexander is mentioned as having been received from Riga and is
stated to be a native of Southern Russia. It was most probably
received from the late M. Wagner, grandfather of M. Chs. Henri
Wagner.

The Aport Ossemie or Winter Aport, Mr. Fischer, at Voronesh,
says, is like Titovka, in fact often diflicult to tell apart, although the
one is a summer and the other a winter fruit. This seems like
the apple we saw under this name on the Volga at Tenki, at Prince
Gagarine's, and very like the colored print of the Aport ossemie
given by Dr. Regel. It is a large oblong handsome winter apple.
It and what we saw in Kozlof market I should think the most
valuable of the apples known there as Aport. Of the summ.er Aports
I seem to know nothing. On the Volga we saw several kinds,
always large, usually well colored, and of fair quality, but none that
specially struck me as of special value to us. I do not know
that they have any just right to the name Aport, yet that name
seems to be thought applicable to large apples.

Arabka {Arabskoe). Under this name there are one or more
apples of decided promise. At Moscow, Mr. Shroeder tells us of ai
large conic apple of very deep color which is a long keeper. The
tree he finds a little tender at Moscow, but says that it is grown a^
good deal in central Russia. In the market at Kozlof, we find
what would appear to be this apple, in fair quantity, and known as
Arabka, and specimens taken to Voronesh were recognized by Mr.
Fischer, Director of the Botanic Gardens, who considers it a
valuable cooking apple that keeps till May; but he added that, that
which he had received from Riga, under that name, had proved to
be Gros Mogul. At Volsk, on the Volga, in latitude 52, we found in
an orchard, about 12 trees in profuse bearing, of an apple known
there as Tchougounka, which means cast>iron ; the fruit was

roundish, of a dark purplish red, covered with a light bloom, much
like the Blue Pearmain. It was above medium in size, although
the trees were so overloaded ; a firm solid acid fruit said there to
keep two years. It also has the merit of holding on to the tree
so firmly, that I could hardly find a windfall. It and Steklianka
were the only varieties in this orchard not yet picked, on 8th
Sept. At Saratof on the Volga we visited an orchard of 12,000
trees, where a week or two before, they were employing 300
pickers and 85 packers to ship to Moscow 25,000 poods of apples.
In a good year they either did (or could, I am not sure that I un-
derstood correctly) produce 85,000 poods, which is equal to 1530
tons. From our description of the Tchougounka at Volsk they sup-
posed it to be the Arabskoe — which apple they thought highly of and
placed upon their list as third for profit. This Arabskoe has been
long known at Saratof. The query is whether the trees I have
spoken of as growing at Volsk and Saratof, are the same as the
Arabka of Kozlof and of Mr. Shroeder ; if so, the Arabka is
likely to prove a valuable late keeper. A specimen picked at
Volsk on 8th Sept. was eaten by us at Warsaw on Oct. 4th, a
crude juicy sharp acid. It had been carried for nearly four weeks
in a leather bag, which was usually full of books and apples, a
bag which had its f-all share of rough usage, except when used for
my pillow, and yet this apple had received no injury. This Volsk
Arabska is really a remarkable keeper.

On the Bogdanoif estates near Kursk, we are shown a
Tchougounka, a large round apple not quite as dark as at Volsk,
and looking rather more like what we saw at Kozlof. This is
found there to be a good cooking fruit, and a good keeper, but
the tree is only fairly hardy, not ironclad as we would say.

The Arabka, and Arabka Polasatoe of Kegel are altogether
different apples; so, too, is that shown to us at Nijni Novgorod, an
&%% shaped, fair sized, hard, long keeper.

Arcad. I am not sure that there is any apple in this family of
special value. They are a family of early apples, sweetish, and of
but medium size, but the trees have proved very hardy.

In Moscow in 1877, during one week the thermometer ranged

a, much
Ithough
there to
he tree
sklianka
, on 8th

12,000

ing 300
apples,
at I un-
to 1530
hey sup-
y of and
las been
J I have
e as the
rabka is
icked at
;t. 4th, a
ar weeks
apples, a
used for
lis Volsk

shown a

at Volsk,

This is

eper, but

Itogether
^orod, an

family of
3h, and of

er ranged

from -3« to -34 R. that is from -40 to -44 Fahr., and one
day it fell to -35 R, that is to -46^ Fahr. This was the
register on the college farm at Petrovskoe, and caused sad injury
to the young orchard, for here Mr. Shroeder had a heavy soil
which tended to produce late growth, as well as a severe climate
to contend with. Of all the varieties in the orchard which stood
the best ? The Koritschnovoes and the Arcads ; and of the Arcads
the Dlennuii or long arcad seemed about the best. At Voronesh
Mr. Fischer tells us of six kinds of Arcad, all much alike, early and
sweet ; but he says that the tree though apparently hardy does not
live anything like as long as Antonovka, of which latter he shows
fine healthy trees 40 years planted, whereas the Arcads usually die
at 20 ; that is, they die by degrees, branch by branch, one might
suppose like our Canada Baldwin, on warm soils from S'^n scald
caused by early flow of sap, so that perhaps it needs heavier soil.

Dr. Kegel in his work describes a Red Arcad, which is an apple
of first quality that keeps all winter. The colored print of it is
perhaps the most strikingly beautiful in the book. I enquired in
many places about this apple, but could get no information about
it. An apple of such beauty is worth looking after.

Beresinskoe. Mr. Shroeder speaks of this as a large whiteish
apple with yellow side, flesh firm but breaking, not able to bear
carriage well, but a very fine autumn dessert fruit.

Beriosovka. This we met and took a great fancy to in the
Kozlof market. As we saw it tnere, it was a fruit of full medium
size, oblate, red on one side in splashes and specks ; very firm,
yet breaking, very juicy, with a fine mingling of sub acid and
sweetness. The seeds were black on 13 Sept., yet it seemed
likely to keep two months. At Voronesh, we showed a specimen
to Mr. Fischer who pronounced it true to name, and moreover
said it was a good hardy and productive tree and a fine fruit.
Season late autumn.

Blackwood (Tchernoe Derevo) is a tree long known upon the
Volga. At Khvalinsk we saw trees of it at least 70 years old, and
at Kazan trees 30 years of age. It is a heavy bearer but not a
tree of extra hardiness. It does not sun-scald, but its upper

branches are sometimes killed, and this, no doubt, sometimes ow-
ing to exhaustion from heavy bearing. On the Volga it is the
favorite late-keeping apple for home use. Were the tree hardy
enough to be grown at Quebec it probably would prove valuable
as a long-keeper. Mr. A. Webster, of East Roxbury, Vermont,
who has kindly given us, in the last report of the Montreal
Horticultural Society, his opinion upon thirty-eight varieties of
Russian apples, tested by him, says of the Tchernoe Derevo, '• fruit
good, but not of special value — fall." Grown at the north it is a fruit
of very fine quality and a pretty good keeper, such was our opinion
as we tasted it on the Volga. It is one of those mild app js which
seem specially to please the Russian palate. In the Volga region
and in central Russia, its quality is first-rate, and thus it is, that,
although of small size and unattractive color, it sells at extra prices,
and becomes very profitable. At Saratof, in the two largest or-
chards we visited, one of 12,000 and the other of 4,000 trees, the
Blackwood was named second on their list for profit, second only
to Anis. In Russia it sells at i J roubles per pood, 75 cents per 36
lbs,, when other apples are selling at 40 kop. or 20 cents per pood,
and it even has been sold up to 5 roubles per pood. Only, if
picked early and kept in cool place would it be a keeping apple
with us, and if so, possibly a valuable apple for home use.

BoGDANOFF.— This is an apple which has been grown upon
the BogdanofF estates near Kursk, probably for two centuries.
Hitherto it has been known under the name of Pipka. There
were about 300 trees of it in the orchard we visited. It is a stout,
upright grower. Taking an average of years, the Antonovka pro-
duces more fruit per tree, but it does not keep so long, A large
number of varieties have been tried, yet, next to Antonovca, they
consider it their most profitable winter apple. As a late-keeping
apple for home use they much prefer it to any other. The fruit is
large, and in form, size and striping, much like our St. Lawrence.

The flesh, when tasted on 21st Sept., was whitish, firm, juicy,
crude, unripe, rather fine grained, a mixture of sweet and crude
sharp acid. As a long-keeping apple of fine quality, I have every
hope of this being a very valuable variety.

r -7'W^7f-'T7-j"r\'»='r-T»vr,; T"»^ T^-^

imes ow-
it is the
ee hardy
valuable
Vermont,
Montreal
rieties of
o, " fruit
is a fruit
r opinion
js which
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is, that,
ra prices,
rgest or-
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ond only
its per 36
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Only, if
ig apple

t
'•

wn upon

enturies.

There

s a stout,

vka pro-

A large

ca, thev

-keeping

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awrence.

m, juicy,

id crude

ve every

BOGDANOFF.

A good, late-keeping apple would be a perfect God-send to
our province and its like climates. Bogdanoff is a most promising
variety, well-worthy of its name, which means God-given.

Bohemian Girl, (Tsiganka, Zuiganka). — We saw this
beautiful apple in the Voronesh Market, a medium- sized sen;:-
oblate fruit, blushed all over with deep pink. The flesh is white,
but quite past season when we tasted it. It is a great beauty, and
Mr. Fisher says a hardy tree. A summer apple well-worthy of trial.

BoROViNKA (Borovitski) must be looked upon as a family
mame. It was a member of this family that, long ago, migrated
to this country and became known everywhere as the Duchess of
Oldenburg. This apple we did not see in Russia. At Tenki, in
the Government of Kazan, in a peasant orchard, we saw trees in
full bearing of a fruit which both Mr. Budd and I looking carefully
at it thought to be Duchess ; but on tasting it we found it so fine
in grain and so mildly acid, that we felt that no such difference in

The cut of BogdonoS was taken from a rather large specimea. The other
cuts are of fair average size. Antonovka, Titovka and Sapieganka, are copied
from the " Sad i Ogrod" by Frof. Jaukowski, of Warsaw. The others I traeed
from gpecimeng.

texture and flavor could result from change of soil and climate.
At Prince Gagarine's, Borovinka, perhaps this one, is looked upon
as one of the varieties long known, not like Arabka and Antonovka
introduced of late years. In another village near there we found
another apple just like Duchess but sweet, or to say the least
sweetish.

Mr. Shroeder, at Petrovskoe, describes the Borovinka as a large,
round, pretty, striped apple, good for dessert or cooking, and says
it is grown a good deal in middle Russia. We did not see the
Duchess there or any apple like it. We find apples grown at
Tula, Orel, Voronesh, &c., called Borovinka, which are not of
Duchess type at all, more like White Koroshavka. At Orel, how-
ever, we find a Borovinka somewhat like Duchess, acid and in sea-
son till December or January, and said to be valuable and grown
there in some quantity, so say my notes, though the apple has gone
out of mind. On the Volga is grown a flat autumn striped apple
which finds its way in quantity into the Kazan and Nijni markets
also called Borovinka, an apple, I think, worthy of being introduced.

Charlamovskoe. — Mr. Shroeder speaks of this as a large, flat
cooking apple with a red side, a variety he thinks highly of,
Whether this may be that grown by Mr. Webster, in Vermont, and
described in the Montreal Horticultural Report, page 53, I cannot
say.

Mr. A. G. Tuttle, of Baraboo, Wisconsin, has an apple receiv-
ed by him under this name, which Mr. Tuttle says, " has the
beauty of Duchess and quality of Domine and keeps through win-
ter." Mr. Tuttle, I believe, has got hold of a valuable fruit.

Crimean Apple (Kmnskoe). — This is the name under which
we find, in diff"erent places, apples believed to have been brought
from that region.

On the Bogdanoff estates, near Kursk, we find an oblong, egg-
shaped, red apple, below medium in size, firm in flesh, and sharp
acid, mingled with sweet ; the tree is pretty hardy there, and, if I
remember rightly, the fruit is a long keeper. At Volsk, the Krim-
skoe, though good in color, keeping and quality, was too small
and conic to be valuable. At Kluchiche, near Kazan, at Mar-

climate,
ed upon
itonovka
re found
;he least

s a large,
and says

see the
[rown at
not of
el, how-
id in sea-
grown
has gone
ed apple

markets
roduced.
arge, flat
lighly of,
lont, and
I cannot

le receiv-
' has the
ugh win-
uit.

ler which
brought

ong, egg-
md sharp
and, if I
he Krim-
:oo small
, at Mar-

quise Paulucci's, we saw a large, roundish stripped apple, some-
thing like Duchess, not ripe ; the tree was said to be fairly hardy
in that extreme climate, and farther south noted for its immense
fruit.

Good Peasant {Dobryi Krestianin). — This apple is highly
prized by the Russian people, and sells well in their market in
spite of its unattractive color and small size. Our Pomme Grise,
though long valued for its fine quality, does not sell at extra prices
in the Montreal market, and, I fear, this Good Peasant would fetch
but small prices when placed alongside better looking fruit. The
tree, both in leaf and bud, is crab-like ; its leaf is prunifolia in form,
yet slightly pubescent. Near Kazan we saw trees more than 30
years old of it. At Volsk, Khvalinsk, Tula, Voronesh, every-
where almost we went, either on the Volga or in Middle Russia
M^ found it a great favorite. People seemed to go into ecstacies
over its delicious flavor. Mr. Shroeder, at Petrovskoe, does not
find it quite hardy, though at Tula 120 miles further South, we
saw a few fine old trees of it. Let us look upon it as a crab, a
large sized green crab of fine quality, for it certainly is as hardy
as some of our hybrid Siberians, and I think we shall find it a
useful crab for home use for rather severe climates.

Grand Mother {Baboushh'no) is described by Mr. Shroeder as
a beautiful bright red medium sized oblate apple of fine quality.
At Voronesh, Mr. Fischer says it is a good and productive tree,
and an excellent large sized apple that keeps till March. Mr.
Regel describes it as an apple of first quality that keeps till May.
What we saw under this name were above medium size, flat rather,
with a large thick stalk ; flesh white, firm, breaking, juicy, fine
grained, unripe, but showing every sign of fine quality, and of
being a long keeper. Its appearance is against it, yet these hardy
long keepers deserve thorough trial.

Grushevka, or pear apple tree is probably so called from its
pear like pyramidal form of tree. It is spoken of by Mr. Shroeder,
as a hardy and productive tree, planted a good deal for market in
central Russia and bearing a small early white fruit. On the
Bogdanoff estates we see trees of it, with their pubescent leaves of

prunifolia form like the Good Peasant. Here it is spoken of as
their earliest apple, white, sweet, of medium size, and good quality.
At Tula we are told it is their earliest apple. Evidently from all
we hear rather a favorite. The German Grushevka Mr. Shroeder
says is much like it, but a little better in quality, and a week later.
That called Grushevka at Kazan was a hard, yellow, fall fruit ;
neither must we confound it with the Gusevka of Kegel which is
described as a large winter cooking apple, but it is without doubt
the Grushevka Moskovka of Dr. Regel.

Kalamas. — Under this name we saw in one of the Peasant
villages, in the Government of Kazan, an apple of medium or large
size, deep red, with a light bloom, the beautiful color of the pink
Anis, but larger, and marked with little dots. The flesh was green-
ish white crude and unripe. Such a beautiful fruit, thriving in so
cold a climate should not be lost sight of.

KoRiTscHNOVOiE Ananasnoe (literally the Cinnamon Pine-
apple). — This Mr. Fischer says is a small flat fruit of dark
brownish red color, and very fine flavor. The tree, too, has proved
very hardy at Voronesh. Mr. Shroeder speaks of its hardiness, its
earliness, and aromatic flavor. At Orel, too, we hear it well
spoken of. A fine flavored early apple it would seem. The Kor.
Anan. of Regel seems very different.

KORITSCHNOVOIE PoLASATOE. — This is the tree that stood the
extreme cold in 1877, at Petrovskoe, when the thermometer went
down to 44 below Zero. Mr. Shroeder says that it is much like
Ananasnoe but striped, and ripens a month later, and keeps longer.
This apple we saw to some extent in Central Russia. In the
markets, when piled in pyramidal form, stalks upwards, they
looked like small Duchess. However, the basin is more shallow,
the form more conic. It has a peculiar flavor, and is quite good.
A fall fruit which has proved quite profitable in cold climates.

Lead Apple (Svinsovka). — Mr. Shroeder says is a small, hard
green cooking apple that keeps till the New Year, or till new
apples, I am not sure which. We hear of it at Orel and at
Voronesh, and as Mr. Fischer says, it is much like Zelonka.

Malite {Malt). — This name has been given to a number of

I app

apples on the Volga, grown in quantity from Kazan to Saratof.
In the Government of Kazan, a little red Malite is one of their
favorite market apples. It is medium or small in size, flat and
often ribbed. The flesh is white, crisp, tender and juicy. Manjr
of the peasants in the villages near Kazan, place it among their
five best for profit, and grow it in quantity. At Simbrisk a Malite
has the same bright dark color, but with a bloom like pink Anis
and yellowish flesh ; a fine grained, juicy apple, with firm but
break flesh and sprightly flavor. At Saratof, Malite, I know
not what kind, is named among their few best apples, and is one
of the kinds grown there for a very long time. We find other
apples, too, more or less of this type. At Simbrisk we find a large
fall fruit somewhat resembling Duchess, and of good quality,
quite unlike other apples named Malite, and perhaps worthy of
trial.

Red Koroshavka {Koroshavka Alui) is one of those strikingly
beautiful apples one cannot forget. It has the color of our
Victoria, a bright deep pink, and any part not so colored is as
nearly as possible pure white. It is usually of medium size, often
above, regular in outline, and never ribbed like Pink Anis. Like
Victoria, its flesh is a pure white, and on 29th August, firm, crude
acid, not ripe enough to fairly judge. This tree, like the Anis, when
grown in the North is dwarf in habit, and where broken down by
weight of snow, sound at the heart, and evidently a young and
abundant bearer. At Tenki it was said to keep till January.

At Simbrisk we hear of a Koroshavka Alui which may be this.
The Koroshavka of Kegel is a long stalked little fruit very dif-
ferent from this or White Koroshavka.

Reinette Kurski. — Mr. Shroeder describes this as a medium-
sized, flat, irregular, ribbed, yellow apple, named from the town
of Kursk. Not hardy at Moscow, but a good tree further South,
and a really good dessert fruit that keeps till Spring. The query
[to my mind is whether this may not be the Reinette Russki which
I we saw at Kursk, but which they would not admit to the Reinette
Kurski. It is a five-sided apple of the size of our Fameuse, with
tfed on one side. A fruit of fine quality, apparently a keeper, and
perhaps valuable.

ti^

RosHDESTRENSKOE. — I Can Only quote Mr. Shroeder's opinion
that it is a medium-sized or largish apple of high conic form,
much like a Gilliflower ; a dark, dull green with a dark red side.
A good table and cooking apple, and a pretty good keeper. The
tree is not hardy at Moscow, but does well farther South.

RoMNENSKOE, named from the town of Romna. — This Mr.
Shroeder says is a round, solid, olive green fruit, with dark red
side. Not hardy at Moscow, but valuable farther South. It is
pretty enough to sell, and is a fair dessert and good cooking
apple that keeps till Spring.

Serinkia {Sierianka.) — This is said to be the Lehmapfel (or
grey apple) of Germany, and is a very popular apple in the Baltic
provinces, where it has been grown some say for a century or two.
In Livonia, Courland and Poland, it has been planted in large
(4^antity, and evidently is a favorite fruit. It has been propagated
in quantity by the nurseries in F iga. It is a stout, straight and
moderately vigorous grower. The fruit is of medium size, yellow
with a little red, and is said by everyone to be of excellent quality.
Unfortunately we did not see the fruit. In middle Russia, too, at
Orel and Voronesh, we hear it spoken of as a good, hardy tree,
and an excellent dessert fruit.

Skruisapfel. — Dr. Regel speaks of this as an excellent table
apple that keeps until the following Summer, and says that the
tree endures the coldest Winters at St. Petersburg, and has been
grown at Moscow, Tula, &c. Mr. Shroeder says it is a medium
or small-sized apple, striped (but perhaps this only on one side,
I am not sure), a very hardy tree, an apple of really good quality ;
good for dessert and cooking, that keeps sometimes till August.
The tree has branches like a Scott's Winter, which cannot easily
be torn out. The fruit, as we saw it, green, with a little dull red,
beginning to appear on one side, and very heavy. Flesh greenish,
juicy, rather tender, crude, and but very mildly acid, when ripe
lacking acid one would think, otherwise quite good. A good late

keeper for cold climates.

Skrute {Beel Skru(e) is a profitable apple on the Upper Volga,
A good-sized white apple, with red marblings, showy and very

popular, but so variable in quality that I have thought there must
be more than one apple in the markets under this name. Often
its cavity is very shallow, and the stem like a peg that has been
driven in, but this is not always so. Though fine-grained and
juicy, it is sometimes woolly and flavorless, so that I cannot recom-
mend it, in spite of its wide popularity in those cold climates.

Sklianka {Steklanka Zelonka). In this family there are some
apples of the Rhode Island Greening type which promise to be
very valuable.

Mr. Shroeder describes the S. Ostrovkaya, as a small conic
green apple with a dull red side, long stalk and corrugated basin,
good for cooking and dessert. It keeps till Summer, and is a good
hardy Russian tree grown more in the south-west, a variety con-
sidered valuable by Mr. Shroeder. The S. Pestrui, or Sandy
Sklianka, Mr. Shroeder says is a sour cooking fruit of medium size,
greenish yellow, with some red that keeps till or into Winter. We
probably met with both these apples, and yet we cannot be sure.

At Volsk we saw trees of this Sklianka type, bearing profusely,
and yet full medium in size ; surely the fruit would be large when
bearing in moderation. It was green, rarely with some red on one
side, very firm, crude, acid, with some slight sweetness. The tree
seemed quite hardy at Volsk, and there seemed no doubt as to its
bearing or keeping qualities. I believe we saw this same fruit in
the Saratof market.

The Zelonka Moldavka of Voronesh is an apple I wish to

draw special attention to. The specimen we had was large and

oblong, a solid apple with a texture somewhat like a Rhode Island

Greening, firm, acid, with very little sweetness. We got it at

Voronesh on 13th Sept., and this description was made when

j tasted at Warsaw on Oct. 4th. It had been kept in our apple bag

I but had not suff"ered. Mr. Fischer showed us trees which seemed

I hardy and healthy, the fruit has the points of a first-rate cooking

[apple, and is a fair eating apple, a variety of great promise.

Dr. Regel describes several varieties of Sklianka, among other
Ithe Sklianka Revalskaya, a yellowish fruit with a little red on one
side, grown at Pskov, Petersburg, and other places, usually hardy.

but sometimes injured in severe winters. The S. Zelonka a small,
green, very productive, cooking apple, grown near Dorpat and the
Baltic provinces, generally. S. Medovka, (or Reinette Voronesh)
received from Voronesh, green and later a greenish yellow, an ex-
cellent table apple, roundish, and of full medium sire. It keeps all
winter, and the tree is hardy at St. Petersburg in severe winters.

At Tula, Orel, Voronesh, &c., we see or hear of long keeping
greenings, under the name of Sklianka and Zelonka, which are
considered valuable in these cold climates. Of those we saw the
Zelonka Moldavka of Voronesh, and the Sklianka of Volsk would
seem the most promising.

TiTOVKA, {Titus apple). — A large handsome fruit to be seen in
quantity, in all the markets of the Volga, and of Middle Russia.

TITOVKA.

It looks like a large ribbed, elongated DucheSs, and on account
• of its large size and attractive color, very salable and therefore

Ivaluable. At Simbirsk it is considered one of the most profitable.
[At Tenki, near Kazan, it is a success, both in nursery and orchard,
md from what we saw would seem to have been grown there for
lany years. At Tula we see one very old tree of it, a survivor
lof an ancient orchard, killed by a severe winter many years
[ago. It is therefore a tree that thrives in the severest climates. It
Iwould not be safe to assume it to be quite as hardy as Anis or
lAntonovka, yet it is not very far from it. The flesh is coarse, but
Muicy and mildly acid, quite good, not at all disappointing, rather
Ibetter than Duchess, because less acid. In season it is not one of
the earliest, yet is a summer or late summer fruit. We might
Ireasonably expect this to become one of the great commercial
[apples of our country.

Ukrainskoe. — I was very much struct by a young tree I saw
It Vilna, in full bearing. It looked as if bearing a crop of un-
:olored Northern Spy. At Orel we hear of it as a hardy tree, and
good apple, but not as productive as some other kinds. Mr.
shroeder also notes it as a light bearer, but says the tree is hardy,
ind that it is a good cooking and second qualitied eating apple
i^hich ships and keeps well. At Saratof, we are told of an apple
mder this name that has been grown there for a very long time,
Said to be quite hardy in that climate, and to keep till march, and
|t is noted there as one of their profitable market fruits. In the
lilder climate of Warsaw, our friends say, why grow L'krainskoe
green apple, when you might as well grow a red one. Color in
m apple is a very good point, yet I feel that any good late keep-
ing apple that thrives upon the Russian Steppes is worthy of trial.
Vargul. — A firm flatish conic apple of yellowish color, with
^ome red on one side of extra quality, and keeps till May or June,
^o says Mr. Shroeder. I do not think we saw it, yet we heard of
|t often in Middle Russia. At Tula an amateur friend puts it
»mong his five best varieties. At Orel, at Voronesh and Kursk,
ve hear an apple well spoken of under this name. '

Vargulok (or little Vargul) is often confounded with Vargul,
ind said by some to be the same. Mr. Shroeder has both, and
lescribes this as a medium sized yellowish green apple, good for
:ooking or table, a long keeper and tree hardy at Moscow.

ViRGiNiscHER RosENAPFEL. — It is Strange how a fruit may
wander to distant lands, and generations after, return to its
native land unrecognized. We first saw this in the nursery of the
Pomological School at Proskau, and Mr. Budd declared that it must
be the " Fourth of July." We then looked up the cast of the fruit
in the museum and so it seemed to be. Why should it have the
name Virginia unless it had been there, and how in those early
days get there except via England. Yes, we may suppose it to
have been included in those importations from Russia, made
during the lifetime of the late Andrew Knaight, and thence found
its way to Virginia. Its name becoming lost, it was grown west-
ward and northward in America as the Fourth of July, and returns
to Russia, the land of its ancestors, even if not the land of its birth,
as the Virginischer Rosenapfel.

White Koroshavka. — This is a favorite apple in the markets
at Nijni Novgorod and Kazan, and is grown in fair quantity along
the Volga for market purposes. It is an early apple, yet not one
of the earliest, a fair sized white fruit with little marblings and
stripes of red ; tender, rather juicy, and so mildly acid as to incline
to be almost sweet, but nice and pleasant, invariably good, and
therefore better in quality than Skrute, though perhaps hardly grown
in as great quantity. We find it grown largely in the villages in
Kazan, and apparently quite hardy there, so that its hardiness one
need not have doubts about ; yet a friend at Simbrisk in a trying
soil and situation finds in the long run that neither the White nor
Red Koroshavka are equal in hardiness to the Anis and Antonovka,
yet for all that a hardy tree, and I would say, a good summer
apple lacking neither in beauty nor in good quality.

Of the coast apples in Russia I seem to know very little. We
had no opportunity of seeing them in bearing. The climate is not |
our climate, yet their experience is valuable. Dr. Regel selected
out of a longer list 41 kinds which he recommended, and out of
these he marked ten kinds with double stars. These ten kinds are
Antonovka, Aport (autumn), Borovinka, Belui Naliv, Red Summer
Calville, Koritschnevoe (Zimmetapfel), Koritschnevoe Ananasnoe,]
Polosatoe Novgorodskoe, Skvosnoe Naliv, Skriusapfel, Titovka.

uit may
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ON FRUITS IN CENTRAL EUROPE.

Our work in Russia was an endeavor to find out what fruits had
stood the test of climates as severe as our own.

In central Europe another field of work presented itself, viz :
what varieties, valuable in these milder climates, are worthy of trial
here?

Our journey from London onwards was a constant succ ession
of visits to Horticultural and Botanic Gardens, Pomological and
Forest Schools, steady, rapid work, without time even to arrange
our notes.

At Verrieres, near Paris, in the gardens of M. Henri de Vilmorin,
gardens full of botanic rarities, we specially noticed that the apple
trees which had been selected for cordon training, included many
kinds whose leaf and early terminate growth betokened northern
ancestry. We noticed this, too, in the nurseries of M. Simon
Louis, at Metz.

At the Jardin des Plantes, in Paris, we had a grand opportunity
to study the different races of the pear. A large collection, botan-
ical as well as horticultural, including different races from China,
from Japan, India and different parts of Europe, and their hybrids.
Mr. Budd is the one man who has taken up this botanic question
of races, and applied it practically to northern horticulture.
By noting certain characteristics of race one might collect in the
milder parts of Europe, varieties of the apple and the pear, with
the assurance th^lt a large part of them would prove hardy in severe
climates.

At Reutlingen, in Wurtemburg, we visited the Pomological
School of the late Dr. Lucas, so well-known to Pomologists by his
works and his life-long labors. At the time of our visit he was
fast declining, and on our arrival at Proskau we heard of his death.
From Mr. Fritz Lucas, his son and successor, we received lists and
notes of those fruits which had stood uninjured during their late
trying winters.- 1-

At the late Pomological School at Kosteneuberg, near Vienna,
we met Prof. Stoll, who has also a thorough knowledge of the

.:: ! V! >:•■: J ■ 1

i&iO

,10l' 'J

fruits best adapted to the colder and more elevated parts of Silesia
and Transylvania. , ,, . , , . ,, . ,

At the Pomological School at Troya, near Prague, in feohemia,
we found a very large collection of fruits adapted to mild climates.

At Proskau, near Oppeln, in Silesia, is the Pomological school
of Eastern Prussia. The climate here is more severe, its elevation
is 720 feet, its soil is cold, its south winds passing over the Car-
pathians are cold, and, I believe, dry. Most of the tender plants we
had found further south are wanting. Director Stoll finds it neces-
sary to study the question of hardiness, and hence we find his
opinion very valuable for North Germany. ,

At Warsaw, the Pomological School, under Prof. Jankouski, is
doing a grand, good work ; in fact the best promological work we
saw in Russia. The climate, however, of the city gardens is but
very slightly more severe than at Proskau.

After leaving Warsaw, we scarcely found any tree or shrub
which would be likely to prove tender in Montreal or even at
Abbottsford, until, on our return westwards, we reached Kiev.

For the present, I will merely describe a few of the best late-
keeping apples of Germany. . .

Batullenapfel Rother. — This belongs to a family almost
new to us. We saw it, for the first time, at the Pomological
School of Dr. Lucas at Reutlingen, and were at once struck with
its small, thick, plicated leaf. A singular fact, too ,in regard to it, is
that it grows readily from cuttings. We saw cuttings of it treated
just as currant cuttings usually are, growing well at Reutlingen.

At the Kosteneuberg Pomological School, near Vienna, Prof.
Stoll draws our special attention to it, and says it has been grown
for at least one hundred years in Transylvania. It is of medium
size, often largish, whitish or yellowish, with red side, pretty good
quality, a very healthy, hardy tree in those climates, and a very
abundant bearer. At Proskau we hear further good opinions of it.
Its keeping qualities are variously stated. At Proskau they say
till February. At Kostenenberg till April. At Troja they say till
June.

The Weisser Batullen is said to be just like this exciept that it
has less color, and some think they are the same.

i of Silesia

Bohemia,
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the Car-
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Baumann's Reinette. — At Warsaw, Proskau and Reutlingen
we hear high opinions of this fruit. Mr. Lauche, of Potsdam, Ber-
lin, in his Deutche Pomologie, says that its bearing, beauty and
quality makes it deserving of very extensive cultivation, and says
farther that it is fine grained, crisp, juicy apple, of characteristic,
acidulated, spicy flavor. A valuable apple for family use, in season
from January till March or May, but too small for market.

BoHNAPFEL Grosser. — This has been long grown by the
peasants on the Rhine and in Wurtemberg, yet Mr. Lucas does
not mention it among his favorite kinds, probably from its lack of
fine quality. It has the same thick, plicated, pubescent leaf as the
Batullen, and would seem of the same race, and like it unusually
productive. It is valued for drying, baking and cider. It is a
medium-sized apple with a red side, harsh and sour until spring,
when it becomes sweeter, but without aroma. Its long keeping and
heavy bearing alone merit its extensive cultivation.

BoiKENAPFEL has been long known in the neighborhood of
Bremen, long grown and highly esteemed, and has been recom-
mended for general cultivation in Germany.

It has a snow white, firm, fine grained flesh, good fair size^
though mostly green in color. An excellent table apple for family-
use, in season from January till June.

Champagner Reinette. — A little dessert apple of rather fine-
quality which has been planted rather largely, says Mr. Lauche,.
in Germany since 1857, when it was recommended for general,
cultivation. It keeps till June. Dr. Stoll, at Proskau, gave us a.
specimen on July 28th. The tree, I fear, is not quite as hardy as
some others. At Riga, not at all hardy. This, therefore, cannot be
the Champagnskaya Pipka we heard of as hardy and valuable at
Orel and other places in Central Russia. Mr. Shroeder describes a
Champanskoe as a rather large, flat conic, greenish yellow apple
somewhat striped. A winter fruit of very fine quality and a hardy,
though a crooked growing tree.

Danziger Kantapfel has been grown, says Mr. Lauche, in
Ger\nany and Holland under many names. " A fine-fleshed juicy
apple of aromatic, acidulated sugary flavor." A valuable home
use table fruit that keeps till January.

ftuLDERLiNG LangSr C^runer. — A largisH green apple tinged
with red, grown in quantity in Silesia. It keeps till May and is
then a fairly good eating apple. Earlier in the season it is too
iacid.

Gruner Fustenapfel, (Green Princes' Apple), is grown
iargely about Hanover and Berlin, in Pomerania, and on the Rhine
near Coblenz, and in cold districts among the Carpathian Moun-
tains ; a small or medium-sized green apple that keeps till May or
June, and, though lacking beauty, yet very productive and, there*-
fore, largely grown. The tree seems hardier than some others.

Lan'jsburger Reinette. — A rather large yellowish fruit with
dull red side, second quality or almost first, some say, for table ;
it bears abundantly, and keeps till January or, some say, till
March. Mr. Goegginger says not hardy at Riga.

Muscat Reinette. — ^This is one of the best of the German
apples. Ir is highly prized and largely cultivat'^d in Germany,
Holland and France. It is a medium-isized yellow fruit, splashed
with red, distinguished by its strong aromatic and sugary flavor.
It keeps till spring. The tree is hardy in North Germany, but,
Mr. Goegginger tells me, not at Riga.

PuKi'URROTHER CusiNOT. — Prof. StoU, of Kostencuberg, tells
me that this tree is grown in very large quantity in Bohemia and
Silesia, and is said to prove vcly hardy and productive in the
colder parts of these districts. Oberdick called attention to its
wonderful producliveness, says Mr. Lauche, and since then it has
been recommended in Germany for general cultivation. A dull
re'i fruit of medium size, of a slightly cinnamon sugary flavor. It
is in season from December to May, and is said to be "the"
apple of :' .s season in some of the German markets. I regret to
say that Mr. Goegginger has found it not hardy at Riga.

Stettiner Gelber. — This is Said to be a filler and preferable
apple to the Stettiner Rother. It is a medium-sized, sometimes
largish apple of good quality that keeps till spring and is grown
Idrgely for market iii some districts in North Gehnany. A speci-
men of it was given td us to taste, by Dr. Stoll, at Proskau, on
July 28th ; of course at that late date it had lost flavor.

'^^ZjJik

XVLL^'iiiLVL

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Stettiner Rother has been g'-own soniewhat at Warsaw, and
in great quantity in the North Eastern Baltic provinces of
Germany, whence it is shipped up the Vistula, and is the com-
monest apple in the Warsaw market in March and April.

Winter Citronenapfel {Citronat). — At Kiev, where it is
slightly colder in winter and where the winter changes are more
extreme than at Warsaw, this is considered their best winter apple
next to Antonovka. Such was the decision of four members of
the Forestry Association, residents of the Government of Kiev,
who consulted together and gave this as their decision io Mr.
Budd at the Forestry Convention at Moscow.

It is a large red apple, yellow only in the shade, a fruit of
high quality, that keeps till March. It was not mentioned at
Proskau among their best winter apples, but is a great favorite at
Warsaw, especially for home use, for its tender flesh does not
bear distant carriage. It did not seem hardy at Kursk, yet, like
many of these German apples, valuable where the climate is not
too extreme.

PEARS.

It may be a cause of surprise when I say that the pear is the
best tree I know of for maintaining a dark, glossy, healthy foliage
when planted on dry soil, in a climate where the summer sun is
hot, the nights cool, the air excessively dry, and the winters very
cold. Yet such is the case. In the public square at Simbirsk, in
latitude 54, on the Volga, a climate as severe as the City of
Quebec, the wild pear is a fine ornamental tree, and seems ih^
tree which suff"ers least from dryness of air and diminished rain-
fail. I must add, too, that the one tree of largest diameter of trunk
which I happened to see during a journey of nearly 1,000 mile$
on the Volga, was this wild form of pear ; a tree at Saratof nearly
lYi feet in diameter of trunk measured near the ground. 1

At Simbirsk it was that we flrst met with extensive pear
culture in extreme climates. Here there must be in orchard, \
should think, i q,ooo trees, and these mainly of two wild foni^,

one a Bergamot, usually about the size of the cut, or somewhat small-
er, usually sweetish, perhaps with slight acid, usually lacking in juice,
sometimes very slightly astringent and fair for cooking ; sometimes
very rough and quite unfit for cooking. The tree is a good upright

WILD BERGAMOT OF THE VOLGA.

grower, and its dark glossy foliage is very ornamental. Mr. Budd
picked a leaf off 30 trees, and really could not distinguish one from
another. The leaf is smooth-edged with scarcely a trace of crena-
tion. ■ ■'•■ ■ ■■• . ■ ' ■ • ■:v-,-.i !,:,,y .:.».,i ; ..,..',

.' ' The other wild form of pear found here, bears a small pyra-
form fruit, which it yields in quantity. Sometimes it is fit for
cooking, but usually quite too astringent. It also is a fine tree.
Its leaves are serrated. These two wild forms promise to be of
great value to us, as the stocks upon which to graft our future
pear orchards. These pears should be grown, if for nothing else,

bat smalU
? in juice,
ometimes
d upright

Ir. Budd
one from
of crena-

all pyra-
I fit for
ne tree,
o be of
r future
ing else,

to produce seeds for growing hardy stocks, for it is an undoubted
fact that a hardy stock increases the hardiness and early maturity
of growth of that which is grafted upon it.

In Poland we find another wild form of pear, a common tree
and a tree of large size. The leaf is fine in texture, though not
very thick, and sharply serrated upon its edges. Its foliage is
not as well adapted to a very dry climate as that of the Volga
pears, nor is the tree as hardy, yet hardy enough for a good stock
for our climate, and, for this purpose, it should be imported into
this country in large quantity from the Warsaw Nurseries. We
saw the wild pear growing in quantity between Kharkof and
Kiev, but whether this same race or not I cannot say.

At Reutlingen, in Wurtemburg, we find the perry and cooking
pears to be of a different race from those of Wesiern France,
whence American nursery-men have obtained their pear roots.
Reutlingen is a fruit-growing neighborhood, and, on account of its
elevation, cold above its latitude. The orchards, here, have
suff'ered severely during the last unfavorable winters, but these
pubescent-le .ved pear trees have stood the test much better than
the apple.

ToNKOViETKA. — This, I will speak of first, as it is the hardiest
pear tree I know which bears an edible fruit. In Moscow, the
severe winter of 1877 killed all the pear trees in the college
grounds to the snow line. This, however, seemed about the
hardiest, hardier even than Bessemianka. We find trees of what
is said to be it in some peasant orchards in the cold climate of
Tula, 120 miles south of Moscow. We again hear of it at Sim-
birsk as a pretty good pear that bears well. Mr. Shroeder who
looks at fruits from a high standard of quality, says it is a fairly
good eating pear, but not equal to Bessemianka. The Tonkovietka
shown to us at Saratof was not the same ; a larger and better fruit,
but tree not hardy there. The name means slender stalk, a name
which poss'bly may be applied to more than one pear.

Bessemianka is known also by the German name of Kerlnose,
which means without seeds. It is by far the best pear grown in
the severer parts of Russia, At Moscow it suffers during winters

of extra severity, yet, in sheltered places, it sometimes does pretty
well. At Tula they say it stands their usual winters, now and then
they have a winter when it is injured. There we saw a number of
trees looking quite healthy. It is "the" pear there, and yet they
say not as productive there as it is fifty miles farther south. At
Simbirsk, it is considered not quite hardy. It grows for about teq

,i' '!■

■I

•. .',"1

BESSEMIANKA.

Ill

years, bears fairly, and is injured or killed by some severe winter.
At Saratof, we find trees seven or eight inches in diameter of trunk,
which appeared quite hardy, and said to bear good crops. Wp
find an orchard here of 500 large pear trees, all but one variety in
good healthy condition, and this in a climate as cold as the city of
Quebec, and so dry that irrigation is necessary for profitable or-
charding. Here the Bessemianka was considered one of their best.
Again, in central Russia, at Orel, we find a great many trees,
both young aod old, and find it considered the best because the
most reliable. The same story at Voronesh, At Kursk, in the

les pretty
and then
umber of
yet they
>uth. At
about ten

ire winter,
jr of trunk,
rops. We
! variety in
the city of
>fitable or-
their best,
lany trees,
jcause the
sk, in the

peasant gardens and nurseries near the town, we see large old trees
of it, we see large numbers pf young trees wd a \^t^^ supply of it
in their little nurseries.

It is the most widely known, and the most largely grown pear
in central Russia, ,. , '

The tree is an upright grower, has large, dark, thick leaves, bi|t
very slightly crenated, almost smooth-edged, a leaf that stands
aridity of air well. One fault this tree has, its branches easily break
off from weight of snow, and thus oftep leave l^rge scars upon th^
trunk.

The fruit is green, with some russetly browp, tender, rather
juicy, gritty at the core, with few or no seeds, quite free from
astringency, n^ild and pleasant, though npt tp say buttery. Season,
I should think early October.

BERGAMOT.-r-Of this family I will speak next. In the markets

AUTUMN BERGAMOT OF THE yOlGA.

iJ'Jk^'.r'/.. -.ii'-i A.*

on the Volga below Simbirsk, we find a small, round, early berga-
mot, but it rots at the core so badly that I cannot recommend it.
There is, however, a large winter, or rather fall Bergamot, worthy
of trial, and perhaps this may be the Bergamotte Osenii of Regel.
At Simbirsk, we saw eight or ten trees of it, about four inches in
diameter. At Khvalinsk and Saratof we also saw healthy old trees.

The fruit is green, with tendency to a little color on one side,
and on an average it is about the size of our fameuse apple. The
flesh is sweet, rather lacking in juice, but quite free from astringency.
It has a tendency, though slight, to rot at the core, but if picked
carefully and early, it may be kept into winter.

At Warsaw, we find in the market in fair quantity, a small,'
found pear, which, on enquiry, we are told, is the Common Berga-
mot, and that there are large old trees of it in exposed situations
near there. We also saw large healthy trees of it in the Warsaw
gardens. It is an autumn pear of very much finer quality than that
grown on the Volga, although the tree has not been tested in as
severe climates, nor does it show the same hardy wild character.

Sapieganka.. — This is the Bergamotte ronde d'6t6, introduced,

./■

SAPIEGANKA.

I believe, from Italy, about the 15 th century, and named after a
Polish nobleman. There are a good many trees of it about War-
saw. I am told that in one garden not far from the city, there
are 185 old trees, of which the largest are two feet in diameter of
trunk.

At Vilna, where the climate is more severe than at Warsaw, we
saw ten or twelve old trees about one foot in diameter and one two
feet. At Riga, some say " as hardy as an oak," others say pretty
hardy. At Voronesh, Mr. Fischer spoke strongly of its hardiness
there, although I have forgotten if we saw any trees there. At
Orel it has not proved hardy. The verdict generally is a hardy
tree and a long-lived healthy tree and a good fruit, but not capable
of bearing quite as low temperatures as Bessemianka.

Red Bergamot {Rothe Bergamotte, Bergamotte (Tauiomnt, Leroy.)
— From the engravings of this pear given in Lauche's Deutsche
Pomologie, it is a query in my mind whether this may not be the
common Bergamot I have spoken of above as growing about War-
saw. At any rate I saw one fine old tree pointed out as this Ber-
gamotte Rouge, and was told there were many more like it in the
neighborhood. Our attention was first directed to it by Mr. StoU
at Vienna, and we learn that it has been grown largely in Silesia,
and somewhat in Sweden. It is spoken highly of at Froskau and
Riga, and is a pear of fine quality, recommended for all kinds of
soil. It ripes in Sept. and Oct. and is well worthy of trial.

MosKOVKA probably deserves mention, a small pyraform pear,
juicy, mild and non-astringent. We saw a good many trees of it
at Simbirsk, large old trees, some of them, somewhat injured, yet
some thought it hardier even than Tonkovietka. A good, little^
early, cooking fruit. ^ ; ,,- .,, »- . , ■ .

Of pears without names I will next speak. If the fruit is long
in shape it is called Douia, if small, Grusha. Another is named
Dolgostebelka, which means long stalk, but as all the Russian
pears except the Bergamot have long stalks, such names have no
individuality. Under the name of Gliva, which is akin to Doula, we
find great variety ; one which I tasted at Moscow, and which I
was assured was grown there, was as rich and buttery as a Bartlett.

At Orel, under the name of Doula Doukavoya, we find good healthy
trees bearing a large, but uneven-sided, very sweet pear, juicy, and
very nice. The same tree we saw at Simbirsk ; the same unmis-
takable fruit again on the Bogdanolf estates, near Kursk. A val-
uable pear for cold climates.

Bezi de la Motte ( Wildling Von Motte). — In Iowa, it has been
stated by Swedes, that this pear grew far north in their native land.
At Burlington, Iowa, Mr. Avery has been very successful in grow-
ing what he called the Crassane Bergamotte, a pear known at War-
saw and in the Baltic Provinces, but said there not to be very
hardy. Is would now seem that Mr. Avery's trees are, as Mr.
Downing has positively affirmed, the true Bezi de la Motte.

The fruit is medium, and sometimes large and tolerably round,
buttery, melting, and of delicate sweet flavor. Mr. Goeschke, of
Proskau, in his book, " Der Obstbau," says, a delicate dessert pear,
but needs good soil, sheltered position and favorable weather to
bear well. It ripens about i8th Oct., and keeps a longtime. At
Burlington, Iowa, this variety is promising, yet must not be ranked
among the ironclads.

Deuces de Jodoine. — In the Pomological Garden at Warsaw,
we find one tree of this varietj^, erect in growth, leaves very dark
in color, thick, pubescent, and in fact just like some inferior, but
hardy Doulas and Glivas planted along side of it. The fruit, says
Dr. Hogg, of London, in the " Fruit Manual," is three inches long,
and the flesh is " half-melting, sweet, sugary and aromatic." All
authors agree that the fruit is good. The foliage of this tree will
not suffer from aridity of air ; if of early maturity of growth, then
a tree of decided hardiness. This tree is well worthy of a trial in
the north-

CoNFESSBLS BiRNE is a tree with a large, close textured leaf,
grown in quantity in the colder parts of Silesia where the ther-
mometer goes down to 20 and 22. The quality of the fruit I do
not know. I only know that it is grown chiefly for drying. .■ ^ •<
' FoNDANTE DE Bois {Hdz farbige Butterbime.) — This pear we
siiw bearing heavily in the garden of the Pomological school at
Warsaw, and in other gardens in the neighborhood ; also in the

d healthy

uicy, and

le unmis-

A val-

has been
tive land,
in grow-
i at War-
be very
e, as Mr.
te.

ly round,
schke, of
;sert pear,
eather to
:ime. At
36 ranked

: Warsaw,
very dark
erior, but
fruit, says
:hes long,
tic." All
tree will
irth, then
a trial in

ired leaf,
the ther-
ruit I do
ig. .^ ,
1 pear we
school at
Iso in the

colder climate of Wilna. At Warsaw, it is one of the few that
have stood the test of trying winters, and one of the best for plant-
ing in open exposure.

Fondante des Bois is a synonym of the Belle de Flandres, or,
Flemish Beauty. In the catalogue of the Royal Horticultural So-
ciety of London, published in 1842, it proved so. Another pear,
however, introduced from the continent, proved different, and yet
the description of it is not like this. Different climates work wide
differences in the appearance and quality of fruits. Still, Mr.
Budd says, surely not Flemish Beauty nor anything like it. I, too,
have known the Flemish Beauty in different climates, have grown
it in quantity in Southern Pennsylvania in a garden I once owned
there, have eaten some bushels of it in my lifetime, and cannot
believe it to be the same as this Fondante des Bois.

Considering the value of this pear in Poland it ought to be
introduced.

FuNTovKA. — ^li'his IS said by some to be the hardiest of the
German or Polish pears. It has been scattered about a good deal
and seems to maintain better health in the colder districts than any
other. It bears a large pyraform fruit, good for cooking, but
whether fit for dessert I do not know. Keeps till November.

Grumkower Winterbirne. — This pear has been long known
in Eastern Prussia, and about eighty years ago was sent westward,
and in 1857 was recommended for general cultivation. It is
spoken well of at Warsaw as a tree that has stood th3 test of trying
winters, not merely in the sheltered city gardens, but in exposed
places. It is a long pyraform pear, green, but mottled light and
dark, with but slight color ; the flesh is tender, buttery, but some-
what lacking in sweetness, not equal to Flemish Beauty I would
say. It is in season in October and November, and the tree re-
quires moist soil.

Liegel's Winterbirne. — This, I am told, has been planted
very largely in the colder parts of Bohemia, among the mountains,
where it has become a large export product. It is sent in large
quantity to Berlin as a winter dessert pear. It is, says Mr. Lauche,
probably of Bohemian origin, and in 1853, at Naumberg, it was

tfBSte

recommended for general planting. It has fine-grained, melting
flesh, of agreeable, and somewhat spicy flavor, and is in season
from November to January. It has not yet been planted outside
Bohemia as largely as it deserves.

Leon Gregoire is another of about equal hardiness. IL is
hardier than Zepherin Gregoire, which is one of the hardiest of its
class. Mr. Lauche says it was grown in Belgium by Xavier Gre-
goire from seed of Napoleon, and says it is melting, rich in juice,
and of an acidulated, sweet and slightly spiced flavor. A good
sized pear of fair quality which keeps till November, or later,

Pasovka is one of the hardy Polish pears, long known and
planted to a fair, or rather, large extent. The fruit is long and
narrow, yellow, often with a red side, of fair size, very pretty, pretty
good quality, and very good for cooking. It ripens in August.

Pound Pear {Pfundbime). — There are many pears of this class.
At Riga, the nurseries speak of the Pfundbirne as a hardy and
productive tree, which bears a large, green cooking fruit, in season
in September and October.

Salzburg. — We were struck with the healthy growth and thick
leaf of this tree when we first saw it in the Pomological Gardens
near Prague, in Bohemia. At Proskau, Director StoU kindly drove
us to where it had been planted as a road-side tree ; large, healthy,
upright trees.

However, as we follow northward, we find this tree is not as
hardy as others. At Riga, it is somewhat tender ; at Warsaw, it
has been grown a good deal, yet it suff"ers at times. It is a pear
of medium size and rather fine quality. The tree is possibly hardy
enough for a sheltered city garden in Montreal, but is more likely
to be of use in climates like Brockville, Kingston and Toronto.
It is said to be a pear of fine quality.

Sugar Pear {Zticherbirne, Zaharna, Saharnayd). — Under these
names, which mean the same, we find many varieties of a healthy,
hardy race, well worthy of trial. Wurtemberg, Warsaw, Riga,
Orel, &c., all have their sugar pears. They are usually productive,
fair quality for eating, good for cooking, and would be very sal-
able upon our markets.

, J-l*. ' i. 4V»

, melting
in season
d outside

;ss. IL is
liest of its
ivier Gre-
\ in juice,
A good
later.

aown and
long and
;tty, pretty
Vugust.
f this class,
hardy and
, in season

a and thick
il Gardens
ndly drove
fe, healthy,

is not as
Warsaw, it

is a pear
isibly hardy
more likely
id Toronto.

Jnder these
f a healthy,
saw, Riga,
productive,
e very sal-

,*7

! •' 'I .;. • ' • " CHERRIES.. • > . -r

The cherries of Northern Europe best adapted to severe cli-
mates belong to a family which is scarcely known upon this con-
tinent. I will describe a few of those that have been found of
greatest value at the north. ' ; i: •, r: ' i ,■ j • ij"

Vladimir. — First in importance are the cherries known all
over Russia under this name. Like the Ostheim and the Brune
de Bruxelles, they are usually bushes rather than trees, and have
narrow, small, but finely textured thick foliage. It has been
named Vladimir, I suppose, because in that Government its
culture has attained such vast proportions. The fruit we saw not
only in the markets, but sold in the Si. eets in all Ihe larger towns,
where the consumption of this cherry is very large. We did not
visit the cherry districts in Vladimir, as the crop had been already
picked and marketed when we arrived there. We tried, however,
to get some estimate of the extent of its culture there. Are there
10,000 trees ? I ask. More than loo men have 15,000 each, and
such was the tenor of other statements from those who know the
country well. What is the amount shipped ? I ask. In reply I
am told that entire cars, and in some special ir itances, entire trains
have been loaded with this one product. At the village of
Viazniki the chief industry of the neighborhood is cherry culture.
We find it in all the Northern markets in great quantity. It seems
to be cut oflf the tree with scissors, leaving about an inch or less
of stalk attached to the fruit, and thus picked it stands carriage
well, and then keeps for some little time after arrival.

In the peasant villages in the Government of Kazan, and in
all the towns we stayed at on the Volga, wherever a peasant had
any apple trees, he was sure to have also a patch of this Vladimir
I cherry, sometimes carefully thinned, seldom in a high state of
[culture, and often grown into a thicket ; everywhere it was grown
in fair quantity, and in all the markets, though past its season, a
few were still to be found. Again in Central Russia, everywhere
it is the most largely grown variety, the popular market variety,
[although at Voronesh and Kursk we find fruits more of the Guigne
type, not quite hardy, yet bearing finer fruit. As far South even as

Kharkof and Kiev, it is the popular kind, and in the more
Southern climate of Kiev, still reclaims its dwarf habit of growth.
In one garden there, we saw it planted under plum trees, just as
currant bushes in city gardens often are with us. '

The tree, if I may so speak, is of bush form, and when it be-
comes too old to bear profitably, the older parts are cut away, and
new sprouts take their place. It is usually grown in sod, and
under such lack of culture brings good returns, hence its great
value to us as a tree for careless cultivators. It can be grown
from seed, as it often is, but as it varies somewhat, it is better to
propagate from the best by sprouts. Sometimes, though rarely,
it is grafted. Some trees are erect in growth, others weeping ;
both forms are widely scattered. The weeping is usually con-
sidered the best, but not invariably so. Some have red flesh, but
as a rule the flesh is deep, purplish red ; the skin, when fully ripe,
reddish black, and when fully ripe, almost over- ripe, a rich min-
gling of acid and sweetness. When quite over-ripe it loses its
acidity, and combines with its sweetness somewhat of the peculiar
but pleasant bitter of the commoner kinds of Guigne.

If the cultivation of this Vladimir cherry proves such a profit-
able industry to large numbers of people in Russia, in a climate
as severe as the city of Quebec, why might it not prove equally
profitable in like climates here ? It certainly should be introduced,
and that in quantity for immediate trial, and if successful there is
no reason why we should not have several Canadian Vladimirs,
with their millions of cherry bushes, and their canning establish-
ments, and good cheap cherries in all our markets.

OsTHEiM {Osiheimer Weichel.) — I am told by Director Stoll, of |
Proskau, that this is a native of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in
Spain, where it was found at elevations of 5,000 and 6,000 feet,
and that it was brought to Germany in 1687 by a German Pro-
fessor, whose name is known, though I cannot give it, and who j
grew it in the neighborhood of the town of Ostheim, whence its
present name. Those who assign to the cherry an oriental origin,
and cite Pliny that it did not appear in Italy until after the defeat
of Mithridates, King of Pontus, in b. g. 65, hold that it must have

heJ
ma

the more
►f growth,
just as

len it be-
away, and
sod, and
e its great
be grown
better to
gh rarely,
weeping ;
iially con-
flesh, but
fully ripe,
L rich min-
it loses its
le peculiar

:h a profit-
a climate
ve equally
ntroduced,
"ul there is
Vladimirs,
establish-

;or Stoll, of
suntains in
6,000 feet,
;rman Pro-

and who
vhence its
ntal origin,

the defeat
; must have

come to Spain from the East, but this is mere conjecture. In
foliage, and in habit of growth, it is tnuch like the Vladimir, and
must be nearly related to it. • .

In Germany it has been largely grown in some places for the
manufacture of cherry wine, or cherry brandy, and it seems strange
that a cherry, so largely grown there, should be almost unknown
on our Continent. In the catalogues of Canadian or U. S.
nurserymen, it is not to be found. However, Mr. E. Myer, a
German colonist, who settled in Minnesota, at St. Peter, about
50 miles South-West of St. Paul, brought with him the sprouts of
this cherry, which have been fruiting in that severe climate. (See
Iowa Hort. Soc. report 1 881, p. 371.)

In color the Ostheim is like Vladimir, a dark red, becom-
ing, when very ripe, a dark purplish red. When we tasted it at
Warsaw, we found it but mildly acid, and rather rich. Dr.
Hogg says ; •' Flesh very dark, tender, juicy, with a pleasant,
sweet and sub-acid flavor." M. Goeschke, in Der Obstbau, says :
" An excellent, agreeable, sweetish-sour flavor. A first-class des-
sert fruit, and particularly in demand for preserves." M. Simon-
Louis, in his Guide Pratique, says : " de premi(^re quality A per-
faite maturity," and " extraordinairement fertile."

There seems no doubt as to its hardiness, productiveness or
quality, and like the Vladimir it is worthy of extensive trial.

Brune de Bruxelles {Briisseller Braune. Ratafia 0/ Hogg.)
— This is another of dwarf habit of tree, and like foliage. The
fruit is large, what we saw, I might say, very large, but it was upon
a young tree bearing one of its first crops. It is dark brownish
red in color, and a rich acid, which tones down but little except
when over ripe. On account of its large size and good color it
sells in the Warsaw market at one-fourth more than Ostheim. The
tree is hardy, but not as hardy as Vladimir or Ostheim, .

Double Natte (Doppelte Natte) is another often recommended
to us. It is, I think, of similar foliage, but not quite as hardy as
some others, and yet reported hardy at Orel. Usually not a
heavy bearer, but very delicate in flavor, and a great favorite with
many,

i|!

' In Centre! Russia we find many varieties superior in fruit,
though not so hardy nor such reliable bearers. At Tula, varieties
kno\frn as the rose, white rose, dark rose, black and white Spanish
are recommended, and yet the query suggests itself whether they
may not have been planted on an incline and bend down as the
Reine Claude plums are. At Voronesh, many have been selected,
but not under known names. Among them the Proseratchnaya
Rosenia, a rosy cherry of transparent type, propagated by grafting.
At Simbirsk, we hear of a cherry almost black, and larger than
Vladimir, known as Roditelskaya. At Khvalinsk, a cherry known
as the Turkish, seemed hardy, and said to bear very large fruit.

Amor ; the cherries grown in Russia, at Kursk and Voronesh,
and southwards, we find trees whose foliage would appear to be
crosses between the Griotte or sour cherry, and the Guigne or
sweet cherry of heart or brigarreau type. As a class they are not
equal in hardiness to Vladimir or Ostheim, yet most valuable in
climates of moderate severity.

Of other German cherries, I would mention Szklanki, or Glas-
kische doppette, a Polish seedling, said to be a hardy and good
bearer, of fruit the size of Ostheim, and much like it in flavor, but
red in color, and with yellowish flesh. Leigel's Fruh Weichel, a
fair-sized tree of Ostheim foliage, dark-purplish skin and flesh, and
much of Ostheim character. The Kleparovska, another Polish
cherry, from Gallicia, near Lemberg, has proved very hardy at
Warsaw. Shatten Amarel, a large dark red cherry of mild flavor,
and of Ostheim foliage. A short stalked Amarel, of which I can-
not give the proper name, which is coming into great favor about
Berlin and other places. Amarel Tardive, a weeping tree of Os-
theim leaf, dark purplish red, and somewhat acid. Rose Char-
meux, a large, red, mild, delicate, watery, mild-flavored fruit. Lu-
tovka, a large, good, yellow fleshed, red cherry, and a hardy tree.
In the German or Amana colonies on the Iowa River, in John-
son County, Iowa, colonies which moved to their present place
from tho State of JNew York, Mr. Budd tells me that there is grown
in quantity, in each of their seven villages, a variety of the bird
cherry, which bears young and abundantly a fruit which they value

in fruit,
varieties
2 Spanish
;ther they
wn as the
1 selected,
ratchnaya
^ grafting,
irger than
rry known
je fruit.
Voronesh,
pear to be
Guigne or
ley are not
aluable in

ci, or Glas-
and good
flavor, but
Weichel, a
i flesh, and
her Polish
r hardy at
nild flavor,
lich I can-
avor about
tree of Os-
mose Char-
fruit. Lu-
hardy tree.
IT, in John-
esent place
;re is grown
f the bird
thev value

for cooking. It has thick dark foliage, and pendulous branches,
and does not sprout after it commences to bear heavily. The
fruit is about as large as a good-sized black currant, with a stone
no larger than an ordinary bird cherry. It is a pleasant acid,
rather too acid to eat raw, but so valued for pies as to be grown
largely. ....

Dr. Hogg, also, mentions a variety of the native Cerasus Vul-
garis, under the name of Peramdam, which has been grown in one
place in Lincolnshire for 200 years or more. Dr. Hogg has him-
self a tree of it ; 00 years old, and yet not more than seven feet
high. A small round fruit, half an inch in diameter, pale red and
of agreeable lively acidity. Its hardiness, of course, I know
nothing of.

Our wild red cherry, or pigeon cherry {Prunus Pennsylvamca),
has been recommended as a stock for the cultivated cherry. If
suitable, certainly no stock could be hardier or more readily
procurable. Botanically, it is ^aid of all our native species
to be that most nearly related to the European cherry. We are
greatly in need of a hardy, cheap stock. The experience of Mr.
W. G. Waring, of Tyrone, Pa., as given in Report Iowa Horticul-
tural Society, 1880, is very encouraging.

What I would urge in this matter is the introduction in quan-
tity of the Vladimir and Ostheim into this country for extensive
trial.

PLUMS.

In all our most northern rambles in Central Russia, we find
the plum grown in fair quantity, and supplying a certain amount
to the local markets. In the severe climates of Moscow, Vladimir
and Kazan, we find plums, and some of them of really fine quality ;
and we are told that in the village of Gorbatovka, forty miles from
Nijni Novgorod, they are grown in large quantity for the Nijni and
Moscow markets. These plums belong to a family more or less
nearly related to the Quetche or Prune plums of Germany and
Hungary. Like the Vladimir Cherry, these northern forms of the

6^'

plum are dwarf in habit of tree, often bushes, and this seems to
be a provision of Nature ; for, in these cold climates, if a plum bush
is killed to the ground new shoots soon grow and bear. Of these
plums there is great variety ; some are red, others yellow, but
mostly blue ; they differ widely in flavor, some, I would say, equal
to Lombard, some are early, some late ; they are usually without
any astringency of skin, and usually free stone. I was not pre-
pared to find such plums in the cold climates of Russia. The im-
proved varieties of the wild plum of the North-Western States, I
had ( pected to be the future plums of the Province of Quebec.
I have some of them, heavy and reliable bearers, but of medium
quality only. There are much better varieties than those I have,
for instance, the Desota and others, yet, these non-astringent,
fleshy, free stone Russians, have a combination of good qualities
which entitle them to extensive trial in our cold country. I would
say, however, that they will prove as easy a prey to the curculio as
other European kinds, while the North-West Chickasaw, though
not too thick-skinned to prevent puncture, is, as Mr. Budd observes,
so juicy, as usually to prevent the inserted eggs from hatching.

These Russian Plums are grown, no doubt, sometimes from
stones, but usually from suckers. Most of the horticultural gardens
or nurserymen have made small collections of the best they have
found. By thus obtaining roots of the best, from a number of
points, we may, more or less,- get the best of these Russian seed-
lings.

One of the commonest in the northern markets is a long, dark,
dull red, prune-shaped plum, tapering toward the stalk, not rich,
but non-astringent, and a really good cooking fruit. The Skoros-
pelkaya Krasnaya, at Petrovskoe, is said to be about the best of
these red kinds, and the tree one of the hardiest, but season a little
later than some other red. Mr. Shroeder has six kinds he recom-
mends, three of which we saw in fruit, but before they were ripe.
The Volga Valley, too, has its, plentiful supplies of plums. Espec-
ially at Simbirsk, we find them in great quantity and variety. At
Voronesh, Mr. Fischer specially recommends the Moldavka, a large
violet plum, not to say juiqr, but of medium quality, rather a large

seems to
lum bush
Of these
low, but
lay, equal
' without
not pre-

The im-
Stales, I

Quebec.

medium
ie I have,
stringent,

qualities

I would
urculio as
', though
observes,
:hing.
nes from
il gardens
they have
umber of
ian seed-
ing, dark,

not rich,
e Skoros-
best of
on a little
le recom-
ivere ripe.
Espec-
•iety. At
ca, a large
er a large

tree, grown from suckers, and found to be very productive ; I count-
ed 150 plums on one branch. Here, too, we find the Yellow Egg,
whether our old Yellow Egg or not I cannot say ; tree seemingly
hardy, but either from want of proper ripening of wood, or from
some other cause, not a good bearer.

At Tula, we find quite a variety in the pe&sant orchards, and
among them Reine Claude. Yes, in Russia, we find a family of
Reine Claudes, red, white and blue; and Mr. Lauche, in his
Deutsche Pomologie, describes such varieties. They are of very
fine quality, extra quality, but in the cold climate of Tula, they are
planted at an angle of 45 degrees or less, and bent down to the
ground before the snow falls. Thus protected by a covering of
snow they often bea^;. bountifully. When too old to bend down
they are allowed to take their chances, often bear a crop or two
and then die. A whitish plum, known as the White Hungarian,
has also proved successful, as well as the White Otschakovskaya
and the White Vengerka. At Orel, we find a collection of the
best under names which mean large blue, large yellow, &c. At
Kursk, we find the Reine Claudes planted more freely, but unless
laid down, they are not reliable, though they may sometimes bear a
good crop in the sheltered peasant gardens around Kursk. At
Kiev, we find more of the German and French varieties, and,
therefore, notes from that climate are less valuable to us.

The Prunus Spinosa, of Russia, is very interesting, and quite
common as far north as any other plum. The peasants always
said it was not a plum, but called it by the Russian name for thorn.
There is a large fruited variety of it, round, blue and really good for
cooking, far better than our Canadian wild plum for that purpose.
We saw it bearing heavily in many places.

A dwarf variety of the Spinosa should be introduced into our
gardens as an ornamental curiosity. The fruit is quite small, blue,
covered, with a bright blue bloom. I have seen it for sale in the
markets, but fear it would be very sour. The bushes are seldom
more than three feet in height, and I have seen little round-headed
bushes, not more than eighteen inches in height, loaded with
lovely blue fruit. Strikingly curious and beautiful.

-i ■ ■■•; ^ • :/Jv. •• f ,;: MELONS. . .ri:Jc>i:,i' ■ :, ...■-.•^,:^

Russia has long been celebrated for its melons. The best we
saw belong to types we have not. ^; ,,,:;'• .

Musk Melon. — In the markets we used to find a melon about
fourteen inches long, netted, the flesh very deep, and a creamy
white in color, and of the highest quality, I call it a musk melon
merely because I do not know what else to call it. Those who
abstain from musk melons are not likely to object to these. Like '
the Khiva melons, which gne of the Emperors of China always
enquired about on the arrival of the caravans, this is a keeping
melon, and may readily be kept till Christmas. It may be a little
late in ripening. However, on September 2nd we found fine
specimens in the Simbirsk market, said to be grown on the lower
Volga, probably at Tsaritsim, Sarepta or Astrachan. In the Kursk
and Voronesh markets we also find them sent from the south.
These melons are grown in Russia, where the summer is longer
than ours, yet not with such hotbed care as we can give them, and
they seem to be picked early. They cannot, therefore, be so very
late. Next autumn will test their value in this climate.

Water Melon. — Nearly every barge that is being towed up
the Volga has somewhere a small deck load of water melons. In
all the markets we find them in great quantity. They are a great
staple article of food. They are all alike, round, about 10 inches
in diameter, a creamy white in color, with red flesh, and of fine
flavor. Those who have grown the Russian netted cucumber
alongside of the finer English frame varieties, may have noticed
the hardy, take-care-of-itself character of the Russian plant. Just
such a hardy nature I expect to find in this Russian water melon.
It grows without care in vast quantity, apparently as readily as
pumpkins do with us, that is at Saratof and Southwards. At
Kursk and Voronesh it is not quite so large. It is a melon of
fine quality likely to do well in the hands of not very careful
cultivators.

1 rn

;.!.i«*jr<l

fiH^r

.'.,.■■[■'"

I '■' , <\,* » X,

ist we

^ . .1 ■

about '
reamy
melon
e who

Like
always
eeping
a little
nd fine
5 lower
; Kursk '
i south.

longer
;m, and
so very

)wed up
ms. In
! a great
inches

of fine
ucumber

noticed
nt. Just
r melon,
jadily as
•ds. At
melon of
y careful

FINIS.

Our journey to Russia has si.own how necessary such a journey
was. It has set us upon the right track, and will greatly hasten
the introduction and dissemination of the best of the Russian
fruits — a matter to which all our Northern horticulturists were so
eagerly looking. We have but broken ground r, the work will con-
tinue by importations, by correspondence, by the interchange of
seeds and scions.

It was so fortunate, too, that Mr. Budd was himself able to
leave his college duties for so long a journey.

Every useful point of knowledge gained will be utilized in
Iowa. All promising varieties will be fairly tried in different
localities, the most promising scattered broadcast as soon as
possible. The other North-Western states will soon take action in
the matter. Ontario will do something, especially for her colder
districts.

When will our own Province have a propagating centre, where
the fruits adapted to each county may be propagated and dis-
tributed to each county, as prizes by the County Agricultural
Societies.

The action taken by our Provincial Government will be an
accurate test of the interest taken by our Government in the
people's welfare.