244 TRANSACTIONS OF THE ILLINOIS 



is bound soon to become based on intrinsic value. This principle, how- 

 ever, of the popular estimate of fruits by their appearance docs not, cer- 

 tainl}', operate in favor of the class of fruits we are to consider. All 

 varieties of the species commonly known as the Siberian Crab- 

 apple are small, to begin with. The newer varieties are but 

 little known, and when placed in market alongside of well known 

 varieties, they are obliged to overcome the immense advantage of large 

 size — an element as attractive in big apples as it is in big men; and I 

 may add. often as deceptive ! Crab-apples, like women, may be small, 

 and handsome; but if, like them, they are not also "good for use as well 

 as ornament," they will be rejected in the market. At any rate, the prac- 

 tical purchaser will seldom be caught the second time by the blandish- 

 ments of mere beauty, (in apples.) 



To show that the Siberian Apple is not without grounds of favorable 

 comparison with the common apple, in point of quality' and market value, if 

 would only be necessary to show the uses to which the former is applied, 

 and to give names, dates, places, quantities, and prices at which they are 

 sold in our markets. Such testimony could be adduced in abundance^ 

 but would make this paper too ponderous for the present purpose. A 

 few instances only can be mentioned. 



Mr. A. Sharpe, of Lockport, N. Y., an extensive fruit-grower, in the 

 heart of a splendid fruit section, raises Transcendent Crab-apples, and 

 sells them at good prices. In 1869 he sent twenty barrels of this O'uit to- 

 Boston, and realized fifteen dollars per barrel for them. In Burlington, 

 Iowa, another fine apple region, we have it on good autliority that the 

 same fruit has been sold for four dollars per bushel. The market of 

 Chicago is always well supplied with the best apples grown in Michigan 

 and Ohio. Yet D. S. Dunning, of Jefierson, Cook county, sells annually 

 Transcendents at three dollars to four dollars and a half per bushel, 

 when the best common apples brought only five to six dollars per barrel. 

 A mass of similar facts, comprising more than a hundred cases, from 

 Maine to Minnesota, could be given, but these are sufficient as samples, 

 showing that there is intrinsic value in the Siberian Apple. Would it 

 not be sheer insanity to suppose that the mere beauty of this small apple 

 so carries away the heads of people in these well-supplied fruit markets 

 as to cause them to pay such disproportionate prices for a really poor 

 fruit ? 



It may be asked, " What are the points of excellence which recom- 

 mend these fruits? Superior richness and flavor for cooking, and con- 

 venience of preparation for use are the principal ones in the case of the 

 Transcendent. Yet there are many Siberian apples that are good dessert 

 fruits, ripening in succession, and extending the season through the winter 

 and spring. Among those before the public, are Whitney's No. 20, and 

 Tuttle's Sweet, for summer, and Marengo Winter, No. one and two, for 

 winter and spring. Unlike the Lady apple, w^hich is on/y valuable as a 

 fancy dessert fruit, these Siberian apples are fully equal to the Lady apple 

 in beauty and quality for the dessert, and are also unrivaled for cooking, 

 drying, and conserving. Some of the highest hordcultural authorities in 



