DISCUSSION ON VARIETIES. 413 



Mr Brackett. Extraordinarily productive and bears every 

 year; of fair quality. 



Sec. Goodale. There seems some doubt whether it be, or not, 

 the apple described by Coxe many years ago, as the Quince Apple. 

 There is at least a close resemblance between them. Mr. Cole 

 claimed it as a native of Cornish, York county, in this State. 



Duchess of Oldenburgh. Mr. Varnev. In my opinion this is of 

 only third-rate quality. It sold in Portland for $3.00 when really 

 good apples brought only $1.50. I should put it the other way. 

 It is quite tart, coarse and harsh, but very handsome. 



Mr. Simpson. About Bangor it is considered one of the most 

 profitable. It is not first-rate but good enough to sell well. 



Mr. Moore It is very good with us. 



Mr. Brackett. It is mostly growc in gardens, and with high 

 culture is very large and very handsome. 



Sec. Goodale. It is an apple specially adapted to northern 

 latitudes The quality improves as we go north ; south of us it 

 is quite poor, in Central Maine it is hardly to be recommended, 

 even for its beauty, but north of Bangor and in New Brunswick its 

 combination of great productiveness, fine appearance, extreme 

 hardiness and fair quality render it one of the most worthy of 

 cultivation. I never saw trees of any variety, in any other lo- 

 cality, present such a splendid show of fruit as the Duchess in 

 Woodstock, N. B., in a well cultivated orchard. 



Starkey. Mr. Varney. In the town of Vassalboro' I saw the 

 original tree yesterday. It is very fair, a handsome grower and the 

 finest apple that we know of for its season. It is in eating from 

 November until January ; we had them in the stores last year as 

 late as February. It is a strong grower, and* if I were to set 500 

 trees to-day for an orchard, I would put 250 of them Starkey's. 

 It has not been propagated outside of the Kennebec valley to any 

 great extent. Last year they sold for $4.00 while other apples 

 were worth $2.50 or $3.00. The old tree stands now on the farm 

 of Warren Stark of Vassalboro'. 



Sec Goodale. I have learned more of this apple from the 

 specimens shown here than I knew before, although I have heard it 

 highly spoken of. It is certainly of superior quality, and its ap- 

 pearance and flavor suggests a probability that it may be a seed- 

 ling of Ribston Pippin, which is certainly one of our best apples 

 although very capricious about bearing. 



Jeferis. Sec Goodale. The tree is quite hardy, of moderate 



