REPORTS FROM LOCAL SOCIETIES. 131 



for its keeping qualities. It is a free grower, a good bearer, and a fair apple 

 for domestic uses. It always finds a ready market, and but for its size, which 

 is small, would be a very desirable variety. Is is apt to wilt in the cellar unless 

 excluded from the air and kept in a cold, moist corner. The Baldwin, once a 

 great favorite, has gone into disrepute on account of the large proportion of 

 wormy and imperfect specimens thrown out in packing for the market. The 

 packers cull them more freely than any other variety. Yet being a good bearer 

 and always finding a free market, it will find a welcome place in every orchard 

 and in every home circle. 



The Talman Sweet is the only winter sweet apple which has proved worthy of 

 cultivation. It is very sweet and very dry, excellent as a baking apple, and 

 thus fills a place that would otherwise remain unsupplied. It is a fair bearer 

 and an excellent keeper. 



Now, I know many will feel hurt because some favorite has been left out 

 of this list. All have the liberty to admire and produce those varieties which 

 please them best. I have only mentioned those of tried and proved excellence, 

 and which will never disappoint the grower or the buyer. 



The Wagener is fast coming into popularity, but has not as yet been suf- 

 ficiently tested in this county. I know it to be an enormous bearer and a choice 

 apple. 



The King, or King of Tompkins County, is not up to its recommendation. 

 It has proved to be a hard and coarse-grained apple, largely water-core, and 

 apparently not worthy of cultivation. A large proportion of the trees set in 

 this locality are dead, or dying as the effect of the extreme cold winter of three 

 years ago. What shall we say of the Seek-no-further, the Spitzenberg, the 

 Kambo, and many others, all favorites, and all worthy of cultivation? 



Any one who wishes may cut out of my list one or more, and supply these, 

 and my feelings will not be hurt. Care should be exercised in preparing for 

 market. If sold in the orchard the responsibility rests upon the packers, but 

 under any circumstance the reputation of the orchard should be held a matter 

 of great importance. The reputation of many an orchard is injured by ignor- 

 ance in naming varieties. All red apples are called "Steele's Red," and all 

 green apples are called "Greenings." The apples from each orchard should 

 be rightly named before leaving the orchard, and the owner should see that 

 Baldwins, Seek-no-f urthers, Spitzenbergs, Kings and other red apples do not 

 go indiscriminately as Red Canada or Steele's Red. 



The fruit to be preserved for home consumption should be perfect, carefully 

 picked and headed up, and kept as near the freezing point as possible. It has 

 been proved here that a cold, moist atmosphere keeps the fruit in much better 

 condition than a dry and warmer one. Apples should not be regarded as a 

 luxury to be indulged in only occasionally, and that during a small portion of 

 the year; but as a part of the daily food of ourselves and our families. The 

 Americans are a bilious people, and if fruit ripe and well ju'eserved extends more 

 largely into our bill of fare, such might cease to be the case. 



Our first care then should be to keep our orchards in the best condition ; select 

 a few of the choicest varieties, pick carefully, and keep sound, and make them 

 an article of diet 3G5 days each and every year. 



Now, I am aware I have said nothing new, and my only excuse for saying 

 anything, is that the truth, even if old, needs an occasional review. 



