Miscellaneous. 451 



tion, and visitors from the east have gone into ecstasies over them. 

 Many of these large apples have been taken east, on purpose to show 

 what wonderful things they grow here, but I think on the whole, they are 

 deceiving, because of their poor quality. The really valuable apples, as 

 every one knows, are usually only of medium size, and some of them are 

 not very beautiful. The largest apples shown were from Washington, 

 and of the variety that is properly called Maxon, but by a certain trick 

 the name was changed locally to Spokane Beauty by designing persons. 

 Specimens of this variety, weighing one and a half pounds, have been 

 quite numerous, and I saw one that weighed thirty-nine ounces. These 

 big apples only go to show what can be done in the way of growing this 

 fruit, and when we look at the displays of the good varieties, such as 

 the Jonathan, Grimes, Esopus Spitzenberg, Yellow Newtown, Winesap 

 and others that I might mention, it is easy to see that they are well up 

 to the highest perfection in appearance. Some have accused these west- 

 ern apples of not being good in quality, but I do not believe it. In some 

 cases they are not up to the standard of high quality that is set for them 

 in New England, New York, Ontario and Michigan, but if they lack 

 anything in the way of flavor, which, in my opinion, is somewhat doubt- 

 ful, they fully make up for it in size and beauty. — H. E. Van Deman in 

 Colman's Rural World. 



