SECRETARY'S REPORT. 195 



American Sujimer Pearmain. This apple though but little dis- 

 seminated in this State, has, I believe, wherever tried, proved to 

 be of the finest quality. Medium size, rather oblong, skin smooth, 

 yellow, mostly covered with red ; flesh remarkably tender, juicy 

 and very rich, excellent for the dessert and good for all uses. The 

 tree is a slow grower in the nursery, but makas a very handsome 

 and hardy tree in the orchard. Productive ; begins to ripen about 

 the middle of September and lasts a month or more. 



Aunt Hannah. A golden yellow apple, sprinkled with dots, 

 sometimes a little russeted. Of medium size, nearly globular, a 

 little flattened. Flesh yellow, fine grained, crisp, juicy, and of a 

 rich, peculiar flavor. It succeeds well as a nursery tree, growth 

 moderate. Tree hardy. Season, December to February. Origin- 

 ated on the farm of Hannah Perkins, Topsfield, Mass. 



' Autumn Strawberry — Late Strawberry. One of the finest flavored 

 autumn apples in cultivation ; has few equals. Fruit of medium 

 size, slightly conical arid faintly ribbed, the surface mostly covered 

 with small broken streaks of bright red. Stalk slender, nearly an 

 inch long. Flesh yellowish, very tender, and juicy, rich, subacid, 

 excellent. Tree very hardy, grows freely in the nursery and pret- 

 ty well in the orchard, but does not attain great size. A good and 

 regular bearer. End of September and October. It is called 

 "late" in distinction from the Early Strawberry, which is a fine 

 fruit, but too tender to succeed here. 



Baldwin. A native of Massachusetts, too well known to need 

 description. As an orchard tree, with the exception of hardiness, 

 it possesses nearly all the requisites to constitute it the most profit- 

 . able fruit to grow extensively for market : great productiveness, 

 good size, color, quality, and keeping well into spring without 

 extra care ; and it is hardy enough to succeed generally in favor- 

 able situations if grafted into the limbs of grown trees, but as a nurse- 

 ry tree it is not to be relied upon. Mr. S. N. Taber, for many years 

 a nurseryman in Kennebec county, and whose opportunities for ob- 

 servation in all parts of the State have since been very extensive, 

 writes, " The Baldwin is only safe when grafted into bearing trees. 

 Have never seen ten profitable trees of this variety in this State 

 which were raised in the nursery." The Baldwin is more exten- 



