EARLY APPLES. 197 



have heard it called the New York Pippen. It is a large white 

 apple, with a pretty long stem ordinarily, and with little minute 

 dark spots in the skin. It is surely not the Fall Pippen of New 

 York, with which the New York market is commonly filled in 

 October. That is a short-stemmed apple, and a very good 

 cooking apple ; but it is different from the Holdcn. 



A Member. Do you know the origin of the Holden ? 



Mr. Clement. A gentleman by the name of Conant, who 

 claimed to know all about it, gave me the history of it. He 

 said it originated in Holden, Massachusetts. I presume he 

 thought he was telling the truth, and I do not know anything 

 to the contrary. He appeared to be a fair-minded man, and I 

 can see no motive that he could have had for misleading me in 

 that respect. That is all I can tell you about it. He called it 

 the Holden Pippen, and I followed him and mean to insert that 

 name in my catalogue when I get out one. It is a good bearer, 

 but some years there are a good many of them a little knurly, 

 on my soil, and in many other localities. I know the apple in 

 many places well, I know the character of the gentlemen who 

 raise it, and it grows very large and very fine almost always, 

 though there are a few exceptions. 



Then, for an early apple, I would have the Early Williams, 

 (Williams' Favorite,) although it is one of the poorest growing- 

 trees in the nursery I ever saw, I must confess ; ripening the 

 latter part of August and in September. It is a large, oblong- 

 apple, narrowing a little towards the eye, preceding the Porter, 

 and continuing up to the time when the Porter is ripe. They 

 grow quite large, are very dark red, and are easily distinguished 

 from any other variety. They are raised in considerable quan- 

 tities in the northern part of Middlesex County, and conveyed 

 to the Lowell and Boston markets. Mr. Reed, of Westford, 

 sold a good many last year in Lowell, for five dollars a bushel ; 

 though he did say they cost him ten cents a piece to raise them 

 that year, because he had to spend all. his time in his orchard, 

 fighting the canker-worm. If he succeeded in diminishing the 

 number of the canker-worms to such an extent that they will 

 not trouble him so much hereafter, his future crops will not cost 

 him so much. 



Then there is another variety — a little earlier than the Wil- 

 liams, even. Some, perhaps, will not agree with me in regard 



