156 



The Canadian Horticulturist. 



THE LARNE APPLE— ALIAS, THE BAXTER. 



Bv D. NicHOL, 



NOTICING that this magnifi- 

 cent apple is now gaining 

 some prominence, and being, per- 

 haps, the only one now living who 

 can give its correct history, I deem 

 it expedient to ask you the favor 

 of its publication in the Horticul- 

 turist. 



In the year 1855 I started nursery 

 business in company with the late Mr- 

 Rich. Coleman, of Lyn, near Brock- 

 ville. During the following Winter I 

 observed an old gentleman (Mr. Bax- 

 ter) peddling in the village some very 

 handsome, large, red apples at five 

 cents each ; I purchased a few, and 

 being so struck with their appear- 

 ance I made inquiry as to w4iere they 

 were groAvn, and so forth. Mr. 

 Baxter informed me that the tree 

 from which the apples were plucked 

 was growing at Larne's Mills, on the 

 north shore of the St. Lawrence 

 River, about thirteen miles west of 

 Brockville. I asked him for some 

 scions from the tree, and in a few 

 days thereafter he kindly brought me 

 twenty-five strong shoots, which I 

 root-grafted, and from which I raised 

 about fifty trees. These, I believe, 

 were the first trees of the kind ever 

 propagated. I named them the 

 " Baxter." 



The following year I spoke of my 

 discovery to Mr. George Leslie, nur- 

 seryman, Toronto, and at his request 

 I purchased for and sent him a bunch 

 of scions of the " Baxter " apple tree. 



Subsequently becoming anxious to 

 see the parent tree with the fruit 

 growing on it, and to ascertain its 



CATARAf)LI, OnT. 



habits, I drove to Larne's Mills, and 

 I found it growing in an old orchard 

 belonging to Mr. Billa Larne, who 

 told me he brought with him from 

 France, in the year 1813, the seeds 

 from which the tree grew, and that 

 he was entitled to the name of the 

 apple, although Mr. Baxter had a 

 large tree top-grafted with the same ; 

 so henceforth it was called the 

 "Larne" apple; that is its proper 

 name. I have of it here in my 

 orchard at Cataraqui, twenty trees 

 in robust health, yielding annually 

 profitable crops. In Kingston mar- 

 ket the fruit sells more readily and 

 at rather higher price than any other 

 apple offered for sale, although it is 

 not by any means equal in quality to 

 the N. Spy. 



At the same time the Larne trees 

 were planted, which is twenty-one 

 years ago, I planted 100 Spys 

 and am now digging out the last of 

 their remains. I will not longer 

 strive to produce my favorite apple 

 in this climate. In trying to produce 

 good fruit of the Sp}', Greening, 

 Baldwin and King, I think I have 

 expended more time, labor and money 

 than any other living man, but am 

 now forced to the conclusion that 

 these choice sorts can only be grown 

 successfully in a ver}^ small propor- 

 tionate area of Ontario. 



In apples our great need is a 

 hardy, long-keeping, showy apple of 

 good quality, which could be shipped 

 to foreign markets with advantage. 

 Tree hardy as the Duchess, fruit 

 hardy as the Baldwin, color, size 



