78 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



"Deak Sir, — As you are at the head of all Horticultural publications iu 

 New England, I thought you might wish to see the fruit of a new apple grown 

 in this vicinity. Then, if you thought it worthy of circulation through your 

 interesting Monthly Magazine, I would give you a few notes with a descrip- 

 tion, that you may dispose of them as you like. 



" As it is not known in this place nor State by the best judges, I safely 

 think it is a seedling. I found a few trees in the Onondaga county, in a town 

 of same name, which had been circulated by grafts ; but nothing further could 

 be traced of its origin. It is much more esteemed than the Early Harvest, 

 with which it begins to ripen. 



" The specimens sent are of medium size, owing to its great productiveness ; 

 of the quality and beauty you may judge for yourself. I have taken a sketch 

 and a few rough notes, which are at your disposal. 



" Fruit above medium size, oblong, largest at the base, gradually narrowing 

 to the eye, distinctly ribbed ; Color green, when fully ripe of a beautiful straw 

 color, tinged with a bright blush on the sunny side; Flesh tender and excel- 

 lent, fine grained, somewhat melting, of yellowish color, abundant in juice of 

 an agreeable sub-acid flavor ; Stalk large and stout, inclining to one side, from 

 one to one and a-half inches in length, deeply inserted in an irregular cavity ; 

 Eye small and closed, segments reflexed, distinctly plaited. An abundant 

 bearer, with the remarkably good peculiarity of ripening a long time as wanted 

 for use. 



"It commences the first of August and lasts till into September. Tree of 

 vigorous growth, making a fine head. Wood of light brown color, resembling 

 the Porter, of stocky growth, like the Gravenstein in the nursery. Leaves 

 glabrous above, quite downy beneath. Owing to its great productiveness it 

 makes but little annual growth. The ends of the twigs are very stout and 

 blunt, and of nearly the same size at the end as at the joint. I propose to call 

 it 'Rough and Eeady' from the fact of its being first tested during that 

 campaign ; and as it is a familiar one throughout the country, I have sent 

 specimens to numerous amateurs with grafts to test its qualities in different 

 localities with this name." 



In the same Magazine, page 507, 1851, I find the following letter from Mr. 

 A. Fahnestock: 



"Dear Sir, — As we failed to get the Primate apple at Geneva we procured 

 them at Benton, where the original and first grafting was done by Mr. Lyman 

 Tubbs, the Eastern grafter, who brought the scions from the East with him, 

 and grafted them on a farm which he purchased at Benton. We procured the 

 specimens we now send yon from these trees. They are called by him the 

 Harvest apple. They were disseminated afterwards around Benton, Geneva, 

 Brighton, near Eochester, and in Onondaga County, in which last place Mr. 

 Cowles saw the apple and concluded it was a seedling. 



" The oldest trees near Benton are from thirty to forty years of age, and are 

 the largest of all in the county. Mr. Lyman Tubbs now lives in Michigan, 

 and as I am informed, in Kalamazoo city. 



" Mr. Peter York, at Benton Centre, when his trees came into bearing, called 

 it the ' Primate apple,' as it was about the first and best, as he has so informed 

 us. Mr. Powers, near Geneva, also had his trees grafted, and when they came 

 into bearing and grafts taken from his trees, they were called the 'Powers 

 apple.' These apples have been cultivated by Mr. York upwards of thirty 

 years, and by Mr. Parsons upwards of twenty years, and by Deacon Bronson 



