FRUIT CULTURE. 765 



at different times, from the earliest ripening to the latest; but for market purposes a few of 

 the choicest kinds suited to the section should be cultivated, it being borne in mind that a few 

 choice varieties are much more profitable than a large number of different kinds. The 

 farmer who plants an orchard of fifty or one hundred trees, representing from thirty to forty 

 varieties, commits a grave mistake. He will not only fail of having a good market for his 

 fruit, since a few of the choicest will be in the greatest demand and command the highest 

 prices, but at the time of gathering the fruit, the different kinds will need to be kept 

 separate, which will require considerable extra care and labor, while there will be but a few 

 barrels of any one sort. There will always be a few standard varieties that will meet with a 

 more ready sale than others. More than three-fourths of the apples shipped to Europe from 

 the United States at the present time are Baldwins, which shows the great demand for this 

 variety. For home market, the Rhode Island Greening and Roxbury Russet are about as 

 popular as the Baldwin ; but the Roxbury Russet is not generally as productive as the other 

 two mentioned varieties, yet has better keeping qualities. Standard varieties, however, will 

 always meet with a ready sale. 



Varieties of Crah Apples. The crab apples will thrive in almost any soil, and are 

 exceedingly hardy. They are very tender; hence they can be cooked with the skins on, and 

 : ..e among the richest cooking apples known. It is a wonder to fruit growers that this 

 profitable and hardy fruit is not more generally cultivated. The tree is very ornamental, 

 giving a profuse supply of beautifully shaded blossoms in spring, and in the autumn heavy 

 clusters of richly colored fruit. The principal varieties are AIKEN S STRIPED WINTER, good 

 quality, lasting from December to March; HYSLOP, fruit large, deep crimson, ripens in 

 October; MONTREAL BEAUTY, fruit very large and beautiful; ORANGE, one of the most popular 

 varieties, and an excellent bearer; TRANSCENDANT, fruit very large, a very profitable variety; 

 VAN WYCK SWEET, a new sweet variety, skin yellow striped with red, large, and about the 

 quality of the Tallin an Sweet. 



Storing Apples. Suggestions concerning this subject will be found under the head 

 of STORING FRUIT. 



Cider Making. The method of manufacturing cider and the kind of apples used, 

 make a vast difference with its quality. Cider that is the product of fruit which, besides being 

 inferior, has perhaps been permitted to lie in piles upon the ground until half decayed, can 

 neither be palatable nor healthful. Too many farmers are indifferent in this respect, and 

 permit their cider apples to remain too long upon the trees, or lie through sunshine and rain 

 in ponderous heaps upon the ground after being gathered, until half decayed, waiting for a 

 convenient time to attend to the cider making. In fact, we remember, when a lad, of hearing 

 an old Yankee remark, &quot; I reckon that apples make a leetle the best cider, and a leetle more of 

 it, that have a good many rotten ones mixed with em,&quot; an erroneous opinion prevalent in 

 some localities, showing the perverted taste, as well as ignorance, of those who entertain 

 such ideas. In order to make the best cider, good, sound, ripe fruit should be chosen, and 

 the better the quality of the fruit, the better the cider. Nice winter apples, and such vari 

 eties as have rich juice and fine flavor, make excellent cider. 



All apples will not make good cider, the early kinds and many of the fine dessert varieties 

 being too juicy and watery to furnish a rich juice. The Roxbury Russet, Rhode Island 

 Greening, Winter Pippin, Ben Davis, and Smith s Cider, are among the most popular varieties 

 for this purpose. The addition of a few ripe quinces to the apples very much improves the 

 flavor of cider, when a choice article is desired for bottling. All decayed, bruised, and 

 wormy fruit should be rejected, and everything in its manufacture be perfectly clean. The 

 fruit for cider should be gathered late in the season, or early in November, and care should 

 be used in gathering to prevent the apples from being bruised when shaken from the trees. 



