220 STATE HORTICULTUKAL SOCIETY. 



seen? To show how scarce this apple is, I doubt if a barrel of them could be 

 found in Rochester to-day. Yet it is unquestionably the finest of all winter 

 dessert apples, and ought to be found in the market. 



SHIAWASSEE BEAUTY. 



President Lyon in the Rural New Yorker gives his view of the Shiawassee 

 Beautv : 



More than a quarter of a century since a seedling of Central Michigan, orig- 

 inating in all probability from the Fameuse, and named, from its place of 

 origin, Shiawassee Beauty, was brought to public notice. Possessing the white, 

 delicate flesh, juiciness, and refreshing flavor of its supposed parent, of similar 

 size and appearance, and of the same season, when specimens were sent to Mr. 

 Charles Downing, it was long before he became satisfied to consider it as dis- 

 tinct, for very similar are it and the Fameuse in quality. Experience, how- 

 ever, shows obvious differences. The Shiawassee Beauty is more distinctly 

 oblate in form, with a brilliant blush, such as is only occasionally seen upon 

 the Fameuse, while the distinct stripes of the latter are never seen upon the 

 former. The similarity in flavor, texture, juiciness, and color of flesh is so 

 marked that, with the skin removed, it is scarcely possible to distinguish the 

 one from the other. So far, then, there would be little choice between the two. 



The advantages that give the Shiawassee Beauty the preference, in my esti- 

 mation, are, that the flavor is somewhat richer; that the fruit is much less 

 liable to scab and crack ; while I have never known it to perceptibly suffer in 

 quality from overbearing. The size will also average larger than Fameuse. 

 The tree is slightly more upright in habit, equally vigorous, and, so far as I 

 have been able to learn, full as hardy. It has been widely tested in Michigan, 

 and proves universally successful. 1 have heard little of its success in other 

 States, although many years since cions were widely disseminated. I can 

 imagine no good reason why it should fail in any locality to which the Fameuse 

 is adapted. One reason why it is not generally known may be that no person 

 seems to have made a specialty of its growth and dissemination, and since the 

 texture is rather delicate for rough handling, and it is, therefore, only adapted 

 to near-by marketing, it has never attracted the attention of commercial 

 planters. 



EUSSIAN APPLES. 



It is really refreshing to run across an item that contains so much within 

 so little space as we find in this one from the well known horticulturist, Mr. Gr. 

 Cowing : 



Tree peddlers still perambulate this region for the purpose of selling Rus- 

 sian apple trees which, according to the representations, bear fruit every year 

 without regard to the weather, and in every other respect are infinitely better 

 than any ordinary varieties. Now the truth is, of all the varieties ever brought 

 from Russia to this country, only two or three varieties — all early — have 

 proved sufficiently valuable to warrant their general introduction into our 

 orchards, and these in no respect are superior to many of our native varieties. 



