STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 69 



I am only sure of two points regarding the choice of varie- 

 ties. First, choose those that are standard and well known ; 

 second, do not plant more than four or five varieties. Pardon 

 me while I illustrate this from my own experience. 



In the Hudson Valley the soil is mostly sandy loam ; we have 

 a long growing season with plenty of sunshine and seldom have 

 much scab. Our nearest and best market is New York City, 

 which has a large fruit stand and peddler trade. Under these 

 conditions the Ben Davis is my most profitable apple. I see 

 some of you smile, but listen, every year I have had a large 

 crop of Bens. The stand men in New York take these and 

 polish them day after day in their customary way — the fruit 

 shows no signs of wear. On cold days the apples become 

 frozen a little and thaw out at night, when the stand is closed. 

 This only helps to mellow a Ben and sooner or later some- 

 body comes along that sees a big red apple and Ben is sold 

 and sometimes even goes into consumption. The Ben can 

 almost always be placed for export trade, especially to South 

 America, and, when the Virginias are out of the way, is a 

 good apple for southern trade. A good run of Ben Davis can 

 be picked, sorted and packed at less expense than any other 

 apple. They have good size and generally good quality, and 

 the windfalls can generally be sold to good advantage. How- 

 ever, I would not advise any one to plant Ben Davis. I think 

 its popularity and usefulness are on the wane, and besides 

 that, the Central West and Virginia can beat any other section 

 at growing this variety. 



The Baldwin is our best and most standard apple. The 

 buyers come for the Baldwins and take the others, if they have 

 to. Fall Pippin does well, but Greening develops a blush that 

 makes it look riper than it really is and our Greenings have to 

 take second place to those from Western New York, grown 

 further north on a heavier soil and without the blush. Our Mc; 

 Intosh can not class with those grown further north, either in 

 color or quahty, and Winesap and Jonathan fall far below 

 those from Virginia, Pennsylvania and the Central West. 

 Alexander, Fall Pippin, Baldwin, and Ben are a combination 

 that are hard to beat for our conditions in the Hudson Valley. 



My farm has twelve kinds of apples on it ; another of 30 

 acres I manage has 23 ; and another of 100 acres has 25 — one 



