244 ILLINOIS STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



drawbacks, some of our popular varieties are in danger of losing their 

 reputation, and will be bought sparingly by our home dealers next 

 season. I shall, therefore, be compelled to approach the subject with 

 caution and treat it in a less positive manner than I should have done at 

 that time. 



Apples. — The only summer varieties that I should plant would be 

 Early Harvest, Red Astrachan, and perhaps, after further trial. Sops of 

 Wine. The Early Harvest is unproductive and subject to scab, but 

 should be cultivated in a small way on account of its earliness. Red 

 Astrachan is reasonably productive, a large, beautiful fruit, but transient 

 in character, and requires careful handling. It is our most profitable 

 summer apple. Sops of Wine is a large, attractive apple, and bears rough 

 handling remarkably well, but is only second rate in quality. 



Maiden's Blush comes nearer to perfection in both tree and fruit than 

 any thing with which I am acquainted ; the tree is, however, short-lived 

 — twenty to twenty-five years being about the limit of its profitable life. 

 I would plant no other fall variety. 



Ben Davis has for several years been our leading winter variety, 

 and has been large and handsome, but of such poor quality that con- 

 sumers are beginning to avoid it. It has also, during the past winter, 

 failed to sustain its reputation for keeping, and dealers who held them for 

 the spring -trade have lost heavily. This apple has probably reached the 

 zenith of its popularity, and the time may not be far distant when it will 

 be as unsalable as the Romanite. 



Willow Twig is another prominent candidate for public favor, but 

 the tree is only a biennial bearer, and is subject to blight ; the fruit often 

 scabs and is unattractive in appearance. It is not altogether satisfactory. 



Winesap was at one time our most popular apple, but of late it has 

 suffered from spur-blight, which has seriously injured its productiveness ; 

 the fruit also scabs badly, and as the tree grows old it becomes too small 

 for market. 



Rawles' Janet also has its imperfections, among which are its habits 

 of bearing only alternate years, scabbing and cracking in wet seasons, and 

 the small size of the fruit. 



Pryor's Red is a strong, hardy, rapid growing tree, and is about the 

 only one of a hundred varieties in my orchard that passed through the 

 winter of 1872-73 uninjured. The fruit is best in quality, of good size, 

 and handles and keeps well. The tree does not appear to be adapted to 

 our black prairie soil, and is tardy in coming into bearing under all cir- 

 cumstances. In my own orchard they have, at eighteen years of age, 

 produced very little fruit, while Mr. McCune finds them, at twenty-eight 

 years of age, his most profitable trees. The man who plants for posterity 

 should plant Pryor's Red. 



Red Canada is another apple of good size and appearance, and the best 

 quality, but drops badly from the tree, and must be marketed in the fall. 



Hubbardson's Nonsuch is one of the few eastern varieties that suc- 

 ceed better west than on its native soil. It is good in quality and always 

 large and handsome, but the same objections apply as to the Red Canada. 



