88 



TRANS. OF N. Y. S. AG. SOCIETY. 



LoNGWORTii, Esq., of Cincinnati, on Vine- 

 yards. 



The Fruit Committee, at the desire of the 

 Society, and considering " the apple orchard 

 an item of national wealth," undertook, 

 several months previously to the annual 

 meeting, to collect and digest opinions ne- 

 cessary to enable them to recommend a se- 

 lect list of thirty varieties of apples. They 

 have accordingly published in their report 

 a selection as follows : 



" Early Harvest, Early Strawberry, Large 

 Yellow Bough, Early Joe, and William's 

 Favorite, all of which are summer apples." 

 " Fall Pippin, Golden Sweet, Graven- 

 stein, Jersey Sweeting, Porter, Rambo, De- 

 troit Red, Bellebonne, for autumn use. 



"Baldwin, Yellow Bellefleur, Hubbards- 

 ton Nonsuch, Jonathan, Newtown Pippin, 

 Northern Spy, Blue Pearmain, Rhode Isl- 

 and Greening, American Golden Russet, 

 Roxbury Russet, Swaar, Ladies' Sweeting, 

 Tallman Sweeting, Esopus Spitzenbergh, 

 Vandervere, Waxen Apple, Westfield Seek- 

 nofurther, for winter use and exportation." 

 We extract also the following : 

 " Any variety of apple, to be worthy of 

 extensive cultivation, should be, as nearly 

 as possible, perfect of its kind. Some are 

 quite so. A positively good apple should 

 possess the following qualifications : 



" 1st. The wood of the tree should be 

 hardy and vigorous in its growth, spread- 

 ing in its shape, graceful in its appearance, 

 and an abundant and annual bearer. 



" 2d. The fruit should be uniformly dis- 

 tributed over the tree, not in clusters, but 

 with a strong stem holding it firmly to the 

 limb, and not subject to fall in ordinary 

 high winds. 



" 3d. The size should, as near as may 

 be, range from medium, to moderately 

 large ; such usually combining higher fla- 

 vor and sounder quality, than the quite 



small, or the extraordinarily large varieties. 

 A very small apple is apt to be astringent ; 

 a very large one coarse and spongy. The 

 flesh of a perfect apple should be solid, 

 heavy, juicy and brittle [crisp ?]. It should 

 be, also, brisk in its flavor, which should 

 always be agreeable, whether that flavor 

 be tart, sub-acid, or sweet. 



" 4th. Its shape should be fair, [and we 

 would add, regular,] of agreeable appear- 

 ance, small in the core, and delicate in the 

 skin. 



" Such qualities constitute a perfect ap- 

 ple ; and the varieties we have chosen, in 

 the names reported for consideration, most- 

 ly possess these qualities in an eminent de- 

 gree." 



All the apples in the committee's list but 

 two, are, we observe, American varieties. 

 They state, indeed, that they consider the 

 favorite region of this fruit " lies between 

 40*-' and 44*^ north ; between these ranges 

 flourish probably the best specimens the 

 world has ever produced." 



Mr. Longworth's article, though written 

 with but little method, contains a great deal 

 of valuable practical information. To this 

 gentleman's perseverance, we owe the fact 

 that the Ohio river is at the present mo- 

 ment dotted with some hundreds of thriv- 

 ing and productive vineyards, yielding a 

 wholesome light wine, strongly resembling 

 Rhenish, and manufactured mainly of the 

 pure juice of one of our native grapes — the 

 Catawba- There are those who listen with 

 incredulity to the statements of the profit of 

 wine making in this country, and with doubt 

 and distrust at the wisdom of the produc- 

 tion of wine itself. We are not of the 

 number. We are confident that vineyards, 

 in the warmer portions of the middle 

 states, will eventually become a profitable 

 investment of the land ; and that an abun- 

 dance of pure, cheap, light wines, will ab- 



