250 TRANSACTIONS OF THE ILLINOIS 



FRUIT LISTS. 



VARIETIES OF FRUIT FOR THE ORCHARD. 

 CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. 



O. B. Galusha, Secretary of State Horticultural Society : 



Dear Sir : — In accordance with your request, I will proceed to give 

 you my views in regard to a list of fruits for the Commercial Orchard : 



We must be admonished by the experience of Eastern orchardists that 

 there are but a very few out of the many thousand varieties of fruits that 

 have, on the whole, proved highly satisfactory. 



If we go over the same gi'ound, and prove the same thing in regard to 

 the value of varieties for our State, we need not be disappointed. The 

 Baldwin and Rhode Island Greening, which stand at the head of their 

 lists, we , have tlirown aside as not proving as valuable with us. The 

 Baldwin has shown itself a little tender in some exposures, and the fruit 

 fails to keep as well. This is due, no doubt, to the higher average tem- 

 perature of our summers, and the changing, open condition of our win- 

 ters. If we would harvest the crop at maturit}- — say when the stem will 

 part on lifting up — and keep in a cool, well aired cellar or room, these 

 popular Eastern varieties would, no doubt, give us better satisfaction. 



These remarks are applicable to all our apples and pears, and attention 

 thereto will be found useful. 



REQUISITES OF A GOOD APPLE. 



The tree must be hardy, producing fair annual crops. 



A tree with a round or spreading head will be the most certain to 

 meet these requirements; more especially the latter. 



A red color is the most popular; for in case of bruising, the injury is 

 less apparent, and generally less serious, bruised places of such apples 

 having a greater tendency to remain dry. Then the skin of the red 

 apple is thicker and tougher than that of the yellow, thus enabling them 

 the better to stand the friction of railroad transit. All other things being 

 equal, the red apple will command the highest price in the market. 



To sum up, the apple that will produce the greatest net profit is the 

 best for the orchard, though we have not had a full opportunity to test 

 this with exactness ; yet there is such an apparent difference that we are 

 able to reject at least ninety per cent, of the list of named apples. 



Among those the best proved are 



1 Red Astrachan Summer. 



2 Sops of Wine -- " 



3 Golden Sweet " 



4 Duchess of Oldenburg " 



5 Early Pennock " 



6 Keswick Codlin " 



7 Lowell " 



