230 THE APPLES OF NEW YORK. 



cum Link) in storage, especially if bruised or delayed in 

 reaching storage. If well colored, picked, packed and handled with 

 great care and stored soon after picking, it may be carried in storage 

 as long as most winter varieties (34). Its keeping quality varies 

 considerably in different seasons and in different locations. In 

 ordinary cellar storage its season sometimes closes in February, but 

 more often extends to March or April, and if the temperature is 

 very carefully regulated it may sometimes be held till May. It 

 stands heat fairly well, but after being picked it should go into 

 storage as soon as possible. Poorly colored fruit of this variety is 

 not good in flavor and does not keep as well as well-ripened and 

 highly colored fruit. In some localities it appears to require from 

 two to three weeks longer than Rhode Island Greening to ripen 

 properly. 



Both the foliage and fruit of Northern Spy are noticeably suscep- 

 tible to injury by the scab and thorough treatment is required to 

 prevent loss from this disease. It comes into bloom remarkably late. 

 On this account its blossoms sometimes escape destruction by late 

 frosts when earlier-blooming varieties are much injured. Often it 

 produces many small apples which are seedless or nearly so. This 

 indicates an improper fertilization of the blossoms. It remains to be 

 demonstrated whether or not this fault may be remedied by planting 

 near the Northern Spy some other late-blooming variety bearing an 

 abundance of fertile pollen. 



Northern Spy is not as well adapted for general cultivation as is 

 either Baldwin or Rhode Island Greening because it is more or less 

 variable in season and quality, and in some sections is an unreliable 

 cropper. Usually it is rather slow in coming into bearing, although 

 under favorable conditions it has been known to yield profitable 

 crops within seven years from the time of planting. The young 

 trees increase in productiveness as they advance in maturity. In 

 favorable locations, under good care, they usually become reliable 

 croppers yielding from moderate to heavy crops biennially, or in 

 some cases almost annually. This variety succeeds better in the 

 cooler regions of the interior of the state than it does on the warm 

 slopes south of the Fishkill mountains and on the coastal plain. It 



