196 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



every year, and the few I have had have brought about as much 

 money as the large crops I had when everybody had apples, and 

 I was obliged to sell them at fifty cents a barrel, as in 1862, or 

 give them away, which did not cost so much as it did to sell 

 them. 



Now, in raising apples, what should be the first inquiry ? I 

 take it for granted that it is going to be profitable, to some 

 extent, at least, to raise apples for the market ; and as to the 

 kinds we are to propagate, that depends entirely upon surround- 

 ing circumstances. In one instance, it may be profitable for a 

 man to raise a good many early apples, if he is in the vicinity 

 of a good local market and desires to attend the market con- 

 stantly. If he is at a distance from a local market, and not on 

 a line of railroad, but on good land to raise winter apples, it 

 may be more profitable for him, if he has other matters that he 

 desires to attend to in the fall, when we usually sell our 

 early apples, to plant the Baldwin, and such other varieties as 

 he can take to market and sell in the mass, or later in the 

 season. 



Then some will inquire which are the best and most profit- 

 able varieties — which will bear the best — wdiich are the most 

 hardy. There is a vast difference in the productive qualities of 

 apples, and in the hardiness of the tree also — in its power to 

 resist deleterious influences. I will cite an instance here. A 

 few years ago, I planted an orchard containing ten rows of trees, 

 eleven trees in each, two rods apart. Among them, I planted a 

 row of what we call the Foundling apple — known in the vicinity 

 of Boston as the River apple ; and the second row from it was 

 the Gravcnstein. The Gravenstein is a fine apple, and bears 

 well in some localities, but I am sorry to be obliged to admit 

 that it has been a failure with me. I can assure you, gentle- 

 men, that I have harvested more barrels of these Foundling 

 apples than I have half pecks of the Gravenstein ; and yet the 

 trees are of the same age, planted at the same time, and on the 

 same soil. The soil is moist and rather too heavy ; I should 

 prefer a drier soil. I did put in under drains and drained it, 

 but not to the extent I should like to have done. Upon inquiry, 

 I find that other gentlemen succeed better with the Gravenstein. 



Then there is another variety which I regard as excellent, 

 coming a little later than the Porter — the Holden Pippen. I 



