REPORT OF THE POMOLOGIST. 275 



resistant to the climate to yield a little profit. Both Red and Wliite Astrachan and 

 Alexander have proved unprofitable, the first and last being not quite hardy, and 

 the other not productive enough for profit. 



None of the successful apples in the above list are keepers except Bethel, which, 

 like Northern Spy, is very tardy in coming into full bearing. In 1870 a large num- 

 ber of scions from Russian trees, imported by the United States Department of 

 Agriculture, were sent into Vermont for trial. The only persons who seem to have 

 taken any pains to test these were Aaron Webster, of Roxbury, Vt., and the writer. 

 Mr. Webster received by far the larger assortment, and, having a large orchard, he 

 was able by top grafting to get fruit from most of them in a few years. My own 

 were root-gi-afted, and did not come to bearing so soon. It was soon found that 

 these Russian apples were to make most valuable additions to our list of summer 

 and fall varieties, but among them all (I refer to those sent to Vermont) only two 

 genuine all-winter apples were found. These are the Borsdorf (.341) and LittleSecd- 

 Img (410). The chief merit of the latter is in its remarkable keeping quality, so rare 

 among the Russians. It will " keep imtil apples come again " with little care, and 

 being quite iron-clad, ought to be utilized as a mother-tree to gi-ow crossed seedhngs 

 from. The Borsdorf, though only of medium size with good culture, is of nice ap- 

 pearance and excellent quality. If it had not been for the advent of the Wealthy it 

 %\ ould have received much more attention than it has. 



The purpose of this paper is not to give a detailed description of hardy fruits, but 

 merely to outline tl:e iiistory of their introduction, and of then- successful culture, 

 in Northern New England. Though the -^Titer came to Vermont from Massachu- 

 setts, he is a native of Maine, and as soon as he had solved the problem of apple 

 culture for Northern Vermont, his thoughts turned to the vast and fertile Aroostook 

 region of that State, covering an arable territory as large as the Avhole of Vermont. 

 Even the soutliern boundary of that section is 100 nules north of the north Une of 

 Vermont, but its much less altitude (scai-cely anywhere more than 300 feet above the 

 sea) and its proximity to the ocean prevent the winter's cold from being greater there 

 than here. A nurseryman in Woodstock, New Brunswick, had distributed some of 

 the early imported Russian apples and the Fameuse in Southern Aroostook, as well as 

 some of the hybrid Siberians, about 1868, and these were the only apples grown there 

 when, in 1872, I began to send scions to the addresses of Aroostook farmers whom 

 I found mentioned by the Maine agricultural press as attempting to grow api^les. 

 This I have continued, and twice, at the invitation of the secretary of the Maine 

 Board of Agriculture, I have visited Aroostook and taken part in the discussions in 

 the board's meetings on the subject of orchard culture. In this way I have become 

 somewhat acquainted with the resources of this, by far the finest, as well as the 

 most extensive, agricultural region of New England. For dairy, stock, and fniit 

 farming Aroostook is inferior to Western New York and Ohio only in its colder win- 

 ter temperature. It is now being settled with considerable rapidity, and everywhere 

 the planting of orchards of iron-clad apples keeps pace with the opening of farms. 



New Hampshire tapers northward as Vermont tapers southward in territory, only 

 more shiu-ply; yet its northern county, Coos, possesses a large amount of excellent 

 farming land, much of which is already improved. Here, too, the iron-clad apples 

 are being extensively planted, and already the home market is being supplied, as in 

 Northern Vennont, with home-grown apples. The upper Connecticut Valley is ad- 

 mirably adapted to orcharding, and wiU in the end contribute largely to the fruit 

 supply of the large towns and villages of that State. 



The Wealthy apple, originated in JNIinnesota by Peter M. Gideon, is not only the 

 leading triumph in tliis line, but its appearance has taught us the most hopeful line 

 of futxire advance in gi'owing seedlings for the cold North. It has shown the rapid 

 the improvability of the Siberian and Russian class of apples under crossing and with 

 careful selection of seedhngs. Although in the Upper Mississippi region of Northern 

 Iowa and Minnesota the heat of autumn makes the Wealthy only a late fall or early 

 w^inter apple (as Southern New Jersey in the same way transforms New England's 

 long-keeping Baldwin), it is found in Northern New England that with early gather- 

 ing and proper handling it keeps and preserves its quality until the last of ]March 

 where it is grown. But it will not do this when exposed to the contingencies of 

 transportation; and for shipment, wherever grown, it cannot be classed with the 

 long keepers. The only genuine long-keeping iron-clad, possessing the necessary 

 productiveness, along with other qualities of a shipping apple, which I am yet ac- 

 quainted with, is a native seedhng of this to^vn. scions of which I have distributed 

 Avidely under the name of Scott's Winter. But the future leading winter market 

 apple of the cold North must surpass Scott's Winter in size and in dessert quality, 

 and I am anxiously looking to Mr. Gideon's extensive seedling orchards, produced 

 under his system of crossing, for the desired apple. He has already announced a 

 seedling of the Wealthy almost duphcating its other qualities, with a longer season, 



