IG 



The TJiree Best Apples. 



Plumb's Cider Apple. 



IN our April number (1873), it will be 

 remembered, the promise of a description 

 of Plumb's Cider was made. It was 

 subsequently sent to the printer, where 



the mechanical work upon the paper is 

 done. After waiting two or three months, 

 in expectancy of its appearance, word came 

 that the copy was lost. Mr. Plumb has again 

 favored us with more specimens of the apple, 

 and we make a second attempt at getting it 

 through. 



There has been a good desil of controversy 

 regarding the identity of this apple with 

 Smith's Cider, and though there may be 

 some little similarity, we think it too trifling 

 to justify the decision made by the Wiscon- 

 sin State Horticultural Society, in 18(39, 

 upon the question of identity^. The origin 

 of thisapple is not clear-that of Smith's Cider 

 is. Mr. Plumb tells us that " it was brought 

 from Ohio, in 1844, to Wisconsin, by his 



fathei' — that the original tree, planted by 

 him, in Jefferson couuty, still stands, a 

 model of form and fruitfulness." The tree, 

 wherever known, is represented to be a good 

 grower, hardy and productive. 

 According to all the discouraging 

 reports upon the destructive efl^ects 

 of the last winter, to our knowl- 

 edge. Plumb's Cider went through, 

 some degrees north of our locality, 

 with little or no injury. Planted 

 in 1844, the tree is now thirty- 

 one years old ; of course it went 

 through the hard winter of 1855, 

 '56. This endurance of a tree, 

 with the fair quality and good 

 appearance of the fruit, should 

 certainly entitle it to a place in 

 every orchard — especially in the 

 more nothern latitudes, where bet- 

 tor sorts are not safe. We fear, however, 

 the fruit has one serious fault — bitter rot, 

 for we find some of the specimens faulty 

 from this cause. 



Fruit above medium; form round-ovate, 

 slightly conic in some specimens ; color yel- 

 lowish, shaded with pale red, and some- 

 what striped with brighter red, slightly 

 specked with fine gray dots ; stem stout, 

 short, set in a shallow, narrow cavity ; basin 

 very narrow and shallow, slightly plaited ; 

 calyx very small, closed ; flesh of a greenish 

 cast, fine texture, breaking, juicy, a little 

 above sub-acid ; core little above medium ; 

 capsules open ; seeds pale brown, short, 

 plump, pointed; season October to Jan- 

 uary. 



The Three Best Apples.— J- McCollum, 

 Newfane, N. Y., says that the three best 

 market apples for Niagara county, N. Y., 

 are the Baldwin, Rhode Island Greening 

 and Roxbury Russet ; that two years ago 



ex-Congressman Van Horn sold from nine- 

 teen acres $7,230 worth of apples, and his 

 neighbor, W. V. Corwin, sold 980 barrels 

 of Baldwins, from 140 trees, at $3.25 per 

 barrel. 



