VARIETIES OF APPLES 239 



359. Mcintosh (Fig. 67).— The fruits of Mcintosh are 

 uniquely beautiful, outwardly and inwardly, the flavor is hardly 

 surpassed, and the whole apple is most agreeably perfumed. 

 The bright deep-red color is made more at- 

 tractive by a heavy and characteristic 

 bloom. When the apples are cut, flesh of 

 snowy whiteness rimmed and stained with 

 red is exposed — firm, fine, crisp, tender, 

 and juicy, with a rich, delicious, and very 

 distinctive flavor. The trees are vigorous, Fig. 67. Mcintosh, 

 hardy, and healthy. Tree faults detract 



from its value as a commercial fruit : apple-scab fungus seriously 

 disfigures fruit and foliage ; the crop ripens unevenly ; and the 

 apples seldom hang until sufficiently mature. The variety 

 originated in Dundas County, Ontario, on the Mcintosh home- 

 stead, from which its distribution was begun about 1870. 



Tree vigorous, round or spreading, with numerous small slender laterals. 

 Fruit large, uniform in shape and size, round-oblate, regular; stem short, 

 stout, slender, often with irregular protuberances; cavity large, acuminate, 

 wide, broadly furrowed, often partly russeted; calyx small, closed or partly 

 open; lobes short, narrow, acute; basin pubescent, small, narrow, abrupt, 

 smooth or obscurely furrowed; skin thin, tender, smooth, readily separat- 

 ing from the flesh, pale yellow washed and deeply blushed with bright red 

 and striped with carmine ; overspread with bloom ; dots white or yellow, 

 small; calyx-tube short, conical, with broad limb; stamens median; core 

 abaxile; cells wide open; core-lines meeting, carpels elliptical, smooth, 

 concave; seeds brown, large, acute; flesh white, sometimes veined with red, 

 firm, fine, crisp, tender, very juicy, perfumed, sprightly subacid; very 

 good to best; October to December or later. 



360. Cortland. — The fruits of Cortland are so similar to those 

 of Mcintosh that the two varieties are certain to be confused, 

 but each is distinct and the differences are all in favor of Cort- 

 land so that the apple is better than that of Mcintosh, impossible 

 as it may seem. The fruits of Cortland ripen later than those 

 of Mcintosh, hang on the tree much longer, keep longer, bruise 

 less in handling, are larger, and brighter in color. The shape, 

 taste, and flesh-characters of the two are almost identical. The 

 trees are much the same. Cortland is an improved Mcintosh 

 and as such is sought for in New York and New England where 

 Mcintosh is chiefly grown. The variety is a cross between Ben 



