and curved in the form of the Large Winter Crookneck. The seeds are contained at the blossom-end, which expands somewhat abruptly, and is often slightly ribbed; skin of moderate thickness, and easily pierced by the nail; color,

when fully ripened, cream-yellow, but, if long kept, becoming duller and darker; flesh salmon-red, very close-grained, dry, sweet, and fine-flavored; seeds comparatively small, of a grayish or dull white color, with a rough and uneven yellowish-brown border. Three hundred are contained in an ounce.

The Canada is unquestionably the best of the crooknecked sorts. The vines are remarkably hardy and prolific, yielding almost a certain crop both North and South. The variety ripens early; the plants suffer but little from the depredations of bugs or worms; and the fruit, with trifling care, may be preserved throughout the year. It is also quite uniform in quality; being seldom of the coarse, stringy character so common to other varieties of this class.

GRAPES IN CONNECTICUT. - I have about one hundred and twenty-five varieties of native grapes under cultivation, about one-half of which fruited the past season. It must be a very bad location for grapes here, as no variety was entirely free from mildew. The hardiest vines, thus far, are Concord, Hartford, Miles, and Ives. These varieties were nearly free from mildew. I used sulphur on the Iona once, and could see no improvement; and after that I let them all take care of themselves. The rain soon washed off what sulphur I had put on. Rogers's Hybrids, so far as I have tried the different numbers, are not satisfactory. The hardiest with me is No. 1. The fruit is high flavored, but has a rather hard pulp, and ripens rather late. No. 2, fruit rotted. No. 3 is as early as Hartford, and a pretty good grape, but does not improve after it is fairly colored. No. 4 very fair, but so much like 19, that poor judges could' not distinguish it. No. 9 very good, distinct in flavor from No. 3. No. 15 rotted badly, and has for three successive seasons; and the vine mildews very badly. This variety is high flavored but the skin has an astringency that is very disagreeable; and, to my taste, it is the poorest grape of all the numbers. This last quality I find, to some extent, in all the numbers. No. 19 rotted some; but, on the whole, I like it the best of all the Rogers's numbers. The Salem mildewed badly, but has not fruited yet. No. 28 something like 3, but not as good. No. 22 rotted, and other numbers did no better; and, for this locality, I could not recommend any of them. Concord

rotted some. Hartford did well. This fruit may suit most people, and I could not eat them if there were no others; but, so long as I can get something better, I shall make an effort to do so. The Miles is somewhat better, and, with me, ten days earlier than the Hartford; quality better; very hardy. Israella colored before Hartford. It ripened up well on some of my vines; while, on others, the fruit ripened very unevenly, and dropped as badly as the Hartford. Some of the berries were very fine, but not quite equal to a good Isabella. I am pleased with the Iona. I had about twenty-five vines of this variety which fruited, and they all did well. I had bunches eight inches long; and this was the only really good grape of the collection. As bad as the season has been here, the Iona has done well. It mildewed some, but not badly. Concord mildewed as badly this season; though it was free from this evil last year, when the Iona suffered some. The fruit did not all get ripe until late. I gathered most of it about the 25th of September; and have some very fine bunches on hand now, in good condition. A portion of the fruit I left on the vines until the 1st of November; and, notwithstanding they had been frozen hard, they were of excellent flavor. This is the best native grape in this locality. I have something to say of the Adirondack. This variety has done very well: the fruit is excellent. Last season, it did not suffer much from mildew ; but, the year before, it mildewed badly. In September, I called upon J. W. Bailey, at Plattsburg, N.Y.; and he surprised me with his beautiful show of Adirondacks. If I could get such grapes here, I would give up all other varieties for this. No mildew, no rot; every leaf stretching itself to its utmost capacity. A glorious sight. The Adirondack ripens at least one week earlier at Plattsburg than with me.

The Delaware seems to be failing in this locality; though mine did very well, considering the season, which has been remarkably wet all through. Fancher is probably a seedling of Catawba, and very good. Eaton is also good. This last is probably not much known. The fruit is very much like the Catawba, and three weeks earlier. The fruit of the Diana Hamburg is good, but not high flavored. I don't think it will stand this climate. Creveling good, but a shy bearer. The Telegraph is a very good grape; early, hardy, and a good bearer. Other kinds which fruited have nothing special to recommend them. I have some promising young hybrids, besides a large lot of seedlings not yet fruited. I have a large number of new kinds which have not yet fruited. Some of them ought to be good, judging from what they cost. William H. Page.

GREENVILLE, CONN., Dec. 5, 1867.

DAYTON HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. Under the auspices of an active member of the State Society, the spirit of emulation has been stirred up in the neighborhood of this very lively little Western city.

A society has recently been organized; and, at its first meeting, Mr. N. Ohmer was elected president; and at the next he discharged the first function of his office by delivering a very interesting address.

Under the care of such an energetic officer and earnest as well as successful horticulturist as Mr. Ohmer, and with a band of devoted gardeners and fruitgrowers, this society is bound to succeed in doing much good.

THE ALTON HORTICULTURAL is a lively society, holding its meetings from house to house every month. A feast of reason is always provided in the shape of a paper or report upon some topic of interest. At the December meeting, they had a report upon the apple-tree bark-louse, which is yet rare in that part . of Illinois; and then the following paper on winter-pruning :

"Pruning, according to Dr. Warder and others, is done in summer for fruit, in winter for wood. Summer-pruning, it is stated, promotes fruitfulness, because it threatens life. Hence, however advantageous in one respect, it is injurious in another, and vital in point. Hence we may conclude that all pruning whose design is to shape the tree should be done during the winter, or rather during the season of rest included between the fall of the leaf in autumn and the starting of the sap in spring.

"The doctors disagree on this subject exceedingly. Lindley, speaking for England, says the best time for pruning is usually winter or midsummer. Kenrick would do heavy pruning between the coming-out of frost in spring and the opening of the leaf, moderate pruning in June or July. Downing thinks, that, practically, a fortnight before midsummer is by far the best season, on the whole, for pruning in the Northern or Southern States.' Cole gives preference to June, July, and August, for moderate pruning, and considers the spring as the worst season. Barry says, that, in Western New York, they prune apples and other hardy fruits as soon as the severe frosts are over, at the end of February and beginning of March. Thomas, in the new edition of his 'American Fruit Culturist,' takes almost unqualified ground in favor of winter-pruning.

"Judging from my own experience and observation, as well as from the arguments adduced by these gentlemen, I would say,

"1. The best time for pruning, looking to the health and vigor of the tree, is during the season of rest; i.e., in late autumn, winter, or early spring. "2. The colder the climate, and the more tender the tree, the later should pruning be done. In this climate, and in ordinary years, we may prune the apple, and perhaps the pear and quince, during any part of the season of rest; guarding, however, against being so late as to excite 'bleeding,' or the oozing-out of the thin new sap from the wounds. The peach, and probably the other stonefruits, should not be pruned until late winter or early spring. The wound caused by cutting off a limb seems to affect unfavorably, for the time being, the hardihood of a tree; a case analogous, possibly, to the amputation of the limb of an animal.

"3. Summer-pruning may be done advantageously to check luxuriance of growth, and promote fruitfulness; and also from the fact that wounds made in early summer heal more readily. But it should be distinctly understood that this is done at the expense of the vitality and future usefulness of the tree; and that the economical question is, whether we prefer an early, abundant, and brief supply of fruit, or a later, more moderate, and more lasting one.

"4. As to the mode of winter-pruning, there is nothing, perhaps, peculiar, compared with pruning generally; a subject upon which I do not now consider myself at liberty to enter. It may be said, however, that large limbs can be cut off

in winter with much less injury to the tree than in summer; and that, accordingly, winter should be chosen for that purpose."

The president asked, whether the rules and practices applied to fruit-trees was alike applicable to ornamental-trees.

Mr. Jordan would approve of the practice of pruning when the trees were in a state of rest, and would apply the practice to all deciduous trees. To prune evergreens would pinch out the newly-started buds.

Huggins. Some deciduous trees, such as maples and beeches, he would not prune when there was danger from the flow of sap.

The state of rest was understood to be at any time after the fall of the leaf, and before the sap started in the spring.

PEAR-GROWING. Whatever may be said of the failures in pear-growing, it is certainly true that those who have carefully studied the habits and wants of the pear-tree have succeeded; and the inducements now offered for growing pears for market are certainly greater than they were years ago, because the supply to meet the demand is less in proportion, and the price greater. Very much is said about ground having to be prepared after a certain manner; and essay after essay has been written, resulting as most essays do, — viz., in the writer appearing on the stage and glorifying himself for an hour, to be no more heard or thought of. We advise planting pears, either standards or dwarf. If light soil, use standards; if heavy soil, use dwarfs. Give under-drainage to the heavy soil if convenient and within your means, but do not hesitate to plant because it is not under-drained: attend, however, annually and carefully to the surfacedrainage. Prune once in November, and again in early July or last of June, as the season is late or early. Do not fear to cut while the tree is young; but, when it gets to making stems of four or more feet in growth, let it be one year without all-pruning. Use bone-meal, salt, and plaster as a manure annually, and keep the ground well and often stirred two or three inches deep until the time of summer-pinching; then stop all culture until so late in the season that no growth can be started.

F. R. E.

ERRORS WILL CREEP IN. A few days since, a friend drew our attention to his bed of grape-cuttings, which he had mulched deeply when planted with tanbark. On examination, we found many plants almost destroyed by means of fungi-mould; showing that even mulching may be carried to excess. The mulch was about four inches deep, and had not been stirred since it was first applied. Two inches of mulch is sufficient, and then it should be stirred occasionally during the season.

A BARTLETT pear-tree is recorded as having grown four distinct crops of pears the past season. When the first crop, which was of the usual size, was gathered, the fourth crop was in flower, and the two intermediate crops of proportionate ripeness.

HUYSHE'S VICTORIA PEAR. - The subject of our illustration is a new English seedling-pear of great promise. It was raised by Rev. John Huyshe of Clyschydon, near Exeter, England; and has now been before the public for. some years.

From the time of its first exhibition, it acquired a popularity which has since been well maintained; and it is probable, that, in England, it will prove one of the best of dessert-pears. Of course, in this country, we cannot speak of its merits as a garden-fruit until tried; but it promises well.

We copy the following description from "The Florist: " "Victoria has

been so long under trial in every kind of soil and situation, that its reputation as a hardy and prolific pear is now well established; and these two qualifications, coupled with the equally important one of being an abundant bearer, recommend it not only to the private grower, but to the market-gardener and orchardist. For the latter it is well adapted, on account of its vigorous growth,