cairns' apple seedlings. 175 



The other apple to which I should like especially to call your 

 attention is the descendant through sprout and seed of that mis- 

 shapen tree that did not wholly succumb to the "test winter." We 

 have of those some ten or eleven trees in bearing. I ami thus in- 

 definite because there are one or two trees that I cannot say positively 

 descended from that tree, the points of difference seeming to quite 

 balance those of resemblance. 



The illustration is from a photograph of one of these trees, 

 though it is far from doing it justice. It was taken from the wrong 

 direction, and the background is so confused the tree does not show 

 clearly. Also the hard windstorm which had occurred just before, 

 together with the toll taken by the boys, had robbed the tree of fully 

 half its apples. 



Another apple also which I did not include and which was not 

 a direct descendant, I still suspect to have been a near relative. True, 

 it is a sweet apple, but in appearance the two are so similar and in 

 the variations they seem to shade off so nearly into each other that 

 I am ready to believe that they came originally from one stock. 



There is considerable variation in the fruit of this seedling, that 

 on some trees being larger than others, while some of the apples are 

 quite white when mature and others remain nearly green ; some 

 even have a faint tinge of color, while the one whose parentage I 

 question is quite visibly streaked with red. A difference in flavor 

 is also noticeable. In general, however, the apple may be described 

 as of small to medium size and whitish color, with flesh firm and 

 flavor mildly subacid. It is a good keeper, lasting well into Feb- 

 ruary and March, sometimes longer. The tree is an attractive 

 grower, comes into leaf and bloom a little late, and the apples fully 

 mature by about the last of September. It has never winter-killed 

 and seems almost blight proof. The past season only a very few 

 small twigs were touched, even where the branches from a Repka, 

 which was so badly blighted as to have scarcely a perfect apple on 

 it, almost intertwined with those of the seedling. The trees bear 

 well, and, so far as I have noticed, with considerable uniformity. 

 The failure in 1901 was due not to a lack of apples, but to the early 

 decay resulting from cracking on the trees, a fault that year that 

 was not by any means confined to the seedlings. 



I may seem extravagant in the praise of this seedling. It is not 

 my intention to be so. It is perhaps no better than many other 

 seedlings, unless it is for this particular locality. It is acclimated 

 here. It may need another winter like that of 1884- 1885 to prove 

 its absolute hardiness, yet the manner in which it has withstood 



