Apple Orchard Survey of Niagara County. 



281 



(1845), ^""^ the Tuscaroras (this tribe occupied the present site of Ni- 

 agara County) had over fifteen hundred fruit trees." 



Apple-orcharding. — Apple-tree planting in Niagara County began, 

 as it did in New England and the older states, by first setting out seed- 

 ling trees. Many of these were subsequently top-grafted. There were 

 practically three eras in the apple-orcharding history of western New 

 York : • First, the era of seedling apples ; second, the era of top-grafting, 

 when these were worked over to named varieties from New England ; and 







Fig. 



-.4 part of the lawn surrounding the residence of Air. W. T. Mann 



third, the era which marked the establishment of the great commercial 

 orchards of today, and the planting of Greening, Baldwin, Spy, and 

 the like. 



Early nurseries. — It is recorded in Turner's history of Niagara County 

 (1878, page 232) that in 181 3, one Jairus Rose, living near Sanborn, 

 sowed two acres of land to apple seed, thus starting the first nursery 

 in the county. The young trees were disti'ibuted throughout the settled 

 parts of the county. The price of these seedling trees was twelve cents 

 .each. It would be very interesting to know whether this distribution 

 of seedlings did not give rise to some important local varieties peculiar 

 to western New York. 



Among other nurseries established was that of Dr. William Townshend, 

 near Lockport, about 1830. S. Cudaback and Timothy Cutwater 



