120 VERMONT AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



NEW OR LITTLE KNOWN FRUITS IN VERMONT. 



By D. C. Hicks, North Clarendon. 



The object of this paper is two-fold. First, to call atten- 

 tion to some old and new varieties of fruits that are quite gen- 

 erally grown in the state ; and second, to make brief mention 

 of a few species that are not. Now at the start I wish to say 

 that this is done with some knowledge of the existing condi- 

 tions that will prevent their general cultivation. But go back 

 a few years and note the condition. At that time in the Mem- 

 phremagog valley, a region practically without the common 

 orchard fruits, now some of the finest orchards in the State can 

 be seen there ; a change brought about by the untiring efforts 

 of one man, and that man, Dr. T. H. Hoskins of Newport. It 

 is without the scope of this paper to even outline the persistent 

 and systematic work that has accomplished this, but it is a 

 record for horticultural history that will be left for the genera- 

 tions to come. Now if we can raise these fruits, even in lim- 

 ited quantities for home use, it will increase our home comforts 

 and at the same time give us a wider range of horticultural knowl- 

 edge and productions, and in time existing conditions may be 

 so modified or overcome by experimental work with new vari- 

 eties and improved systems of cultivation, that we may even 

 raise some of these fruits for our local markets. I may hope 

 that the above reasons will be sufficient to warrant me in using 

 the little space that I devote to them in this paper. 



APPLES. 



Sutton Beauty. — I first became interested in this apple in 

 the spring of 1874, while on a visit to the town of its origin, 

 Sutton, Worcester County, Massachusetts. I visited the orig- 

 inal tree, which at that time, I should say, was from thirty-five 

 to forty -five years old. It was growing in an orchard of many 

 old trees, composed almost wholly of Hubbardston, Nonsuch 

 and Baldwin's. The growth characteristics were like Hub- 

 bardston, while the fruit in color and shape resembled the 

 Baldwin, but with more character than either. No reliable 

 data could be obtained as to its origin, but it is undoubtedly a 

 seedling of Hubbardston or Baldwin, with the probabilities in 



