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at Mr. Daniel Miller's. Respecting its origin, Mr. Miller informed me that his tree was brought from Virginia about forty years ago, and was a sprout taken from a tree in an old orchard on the south branch of the Potomac; that it was not a grafted tree, and that they had no grafted fruit in the orchard, with which he was well acquainted, where the sprout was obtained. I first saw and ate of the fruit in the winter of 1838-9, and grafted nineteen trees of it in 1841. In January, 1843, I sent a description of it to Wm. Kenrick, accompanied with scions. Last spring, I sent scions to yourself, which you have since informed me were growing.

Mr. Miller and Mrs. Foster called this apple the "White Pippin" and knew it by no other name. The name of American White Winter Calville was first given to it by myself. So you see it cannot be the White Winter Calville of the French, after which I named it, on account of its resemblance to that old variety; else, in naming, as I thought, a new variety, I unconsciously hit upon its old name with the erroneous prefix of "American," a thing little likely to take place. It cannot be the same with the French variety, because this apple has been propagated by means of sprouts time out of mind, as I may say; a thing impossible unless root-grafting had been employed upon the first tree in the series, and that tree had established itself upon its own roots, and threw up sprouts from them to be taken and reared into trees. At the time at which this must have happened, had it happened at all, I believe that root-grafting the apple was not practised; and there was, moreover, little or no grafted fruit of any kind in the part of Virginia from which the family of Mr. Miller removed. Nor would the slightest suspicion now exist of its being the French variety, if I had not unfortunately renamed it.

My reasons for giving it the new name I believed to be sufficient at the time; they were briefly as follows:-There are so many apples called "Pippin," with various prefixes and addenda, as to have already brought in great confusion in relation to some of them. The prefix "White" might come at some time to be omitted, since the difference between white, green and straw color, as descriptive of the color of an apple, is often very slight indeed; and we have already "Green Pippins" and "Golden.

Pippins" and "Yellow Pippins" without number. It bore a very striking resemblance to the French variety, and evidently belonged to the same class. And lastly, inasmuch as the fruit would be first introduced to the notice of pomologists by the new name, I conceived that no inconvenience could result from it. Upon the whole, this case is a good one to exemplify the propriety of the principle of the Fifth Rule as set forth in my article upon the subject of the Uniform Nomenclature of Fruits, (Vol. XII. p. 47), which is,—

“That the names given to new seedlings be sufficiently distinctive to guard against and prevent their being confounded with previously named sorts."

Had I adhered to it in this case, no doubt would ever have arisen, as I believe there is no foundation for any, of this being a new and distinct variety.

Fourth-The varieties before referred to, as well as the Early Pennock, Crimson Nonpareil, Belle de Witt, and Zoar Large Green, have been already widely disseminated among nurserymen by myself and others, chiefly by Mr. Mathews. Coshocton, March 16, 1847.

NOTE. Allow me to call your attention to a very fine red apple of medium size, called Butter Apple or Butter Sweet, the origin of which is unknown to me further than that it was first cultivated, as I am informed, in the neighborhood of Wooster, Ohio, whence I obtained two trees in 1839, which are now bearing. It is hardly a sweet apple, very juicy and sprightly, with an exceedingly high musky flavor such as I never found in any other apple. It keeps well into winter. T. S. H.

If, as we may infer from the remarks of our correspondent, in whose opinion we place the greatest confidence, the American White Winter Calville is a native variety, his explanation in regard to the name is especially valuable to prevent mistakes hereafter. After our remarks, appended to Mr. Fahnestock's article, had gone to press, it occurred to us that we had received some account of the variety in question before, and, in turning to a former volume, (XI. p. 448,) we found we had done, what is not usual with us, overlooked his communication, and also the fact that, through the kind

ness of Mr. Humrickhouse, we have a tree of the Calville raised from scions received from him last spring. It appears, however, that the origin of this variety is yet rather obscure, and though, from the facts he adduces, we can scarcely doubt that it is an American seedling, still it may be an error. We are well aware that the best proof of a seedling variety is its propagation from suckers. So much did the late Mr. Manning rely upon this, that he highly offended a gentleman who had produced a fine seedling cherry, when he expressed his doubts about its native origin, and, to test its not being some European variety, asked the possessor of the original tree to give him a sucker, which would at once settle the question.

We shall, therefore, rely upon the information of our correspondent in regard to the native origin of the American White Winter Calville, and deem it an entirely new variety. When our own trees come into bearing, we shall make a careful comparison of the fruit as well as of the wood and leaves, and give our readers the results of our inquiries.-Ed.

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ART. III. Some Account of the Oswego Beurré, or Reid's Seedling Pear. By the EDITor.

THE past year has brought to the immediate notice of cultivators several new and excellent pears, and among them some native varieties which promise to excel the best Belgian or French kinds. Among the latter, may be named the Swan's Orange, or Onondaga, and the Reid's Seedling, or the Oswego Beurré. The first we have a very full and complete account of, as well as a drawing and description of the fruit, and shall soon give them to our readers as we promised last December (Vol. XII. p. 492). The last we are now gratified in bringing to the attention of cultivators, by the kindness of our correspondents, in Western New York, who have sent us the particulars which follow in regard to the history and origin of this pear.

We have not time now to enter into a defence of the correct

name of the variety, but if the brief account which has been given of it is correct, its proper title should be "REID'S SEEDLING," for Mr. Downing has stated that it was raised from seed by Mr. W. Reed, of Oswego, New York, and as that has been its name for some time previous to its introduction to notice by Mr. Allen, we do not see how his becoming proprietor or possessor of the stock, should give him any authority to re-name it. This is the practice of some French nurserymen, in order to increase their catalogues of new varieties, but we hope it is not about to be adopted by our cultivators. If the facts are as we suppose, and we see the Genesee Farmer states they are, the legitimate name is Reid's Seedling; though, until we are more fully informed on this point, we shall prefix both titles. Of the great impropriety of calling Swan's Orange, the Onondaga, we shall speak when we describe that fine pear. If every author or cultivator is at liberty to lay aside old and established names, all efforts to arrive at a correct nomenclature may be abandoned at once.

The Oswego Beurré was raised by Mr. Walter Reid, of Oswego, New York, and the original tree is now growing on the farm, now, or late, in his possession. The tree is now of large size, and cannot be removed with safety: last year, it bore fifteen barrels of fruit, and, what is remarkable, it has continued to bear annually ever since it first fruited, which was when the tree was only eight or nine years of age. The tree has, we believe, passed into the possession of Mr. Allen, nurseryman of Oswego, from whom these facts have been gathered, and who intends to keep it for propagation, and raise a fine stock of young trees to supply the trade.

The fruit is of large size, not quite as large as the Brown Beurré, but larger than the White Doyenné, of regular, ovalobovate form, with a greenish-yellow and smooth skin, traced more or less with russet, and with a short stout stem. The flesh is very melting and juicy, and the flavor sprightly, saccharine, rich and high-flavored. It ripens, Mr. Allen states, early in November, and is fit for the dessert from that time until January. The tree is remarkably thrifty, hardy, and an early bearer.

This variety is probably a cross between the Brown Beurré and the White Doyenné, as it partakes to some extent of the merits and characteristics of both, and as these two varieties

were the only kinds known in the vicinity, at the time the seed of this tree was sown, or accidentally dropped where the tree now is. The tree is now growing in grass land, and is, of course, not as vigorous as if standing in a highly cultivated garden.

Our correspondent, who has communicated these facts, informs us that it is a variety which, he does not doubt, will be sought after with great avidity, as soon as its merits become better known; we hope, therefore, Mr. Allen will be successful in rapidly bringing forward his young trees.

ART IV. Some Remarks upon the Cooper Apple, and its Identity with Other Sorts. By A. H. ERNST, Cincinnati, Ohio.

I HAVE read with instruction many of the articles from the pen of your enthusiastic correspondent, Mr. Humrickhouse, and always look them over with an expectation of meeting something new and interesting. In his last, in your March number, on the Cooper Apple, he says:-"The Cooper is indeed, a most superior apple." This is true; but he is in an error in supposing it identical with the Drap d'Or, or the Fall Harvey. After reading his supposition, I immediately resorted to my trees, and compared the wood and their growth. This I found to be decidedly different. I obtained my Fall Harvey from the late R. Manning, and my Drap d'Or from Capt. Lovett of Beverly. I therefore feel confident of their genuineness. The Cooper, I obtained from Mr. George Dana, Jr., a nurseryman of Belpre, Ohio, where it has been cultivated most, and is known best. The growth of the tree I find to be upright, stiff, throwing out from its body thorny spurs, much like a native or uncultivated tree. The wood is yellowish red, and very much disposed to canker, showing decay and tenderness. This is not the case with either of the others. For specimens of the fruit, I am also indebted to the same source. These were very fine, of a lightish yellow color, slightly, but indistinctly streaked with red on the sunny side; globular form, but depressed at the base. It is not de

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