NOTES AAD COMMENTS. 



493 



THE (^lESTION OF VARIETIP^S IN APPLES. 



'"f"^ HIS is a very old and vexed question 

 i for the fruit grower. Time was when 

 the variety mattered little. There were cider 

 apples, cooking apples, and dessert apples, 

 and their names were of little moment ; for 

 the price was the same for all. The only 

 question was productiveness, and for this 

 the Greening and Baldwin were the favorites 

 with planters of thirty years ago. Then it 

 was found that red apples sold better than 

 green, and the favorites were B ildwin. King, 

 and Spy ; but as time passed, the Baldwin 

 did not always meet expectations, the King 

 was unproductive and the Spy too slow in 

 coming into bearing; so that of late the Ben 

 Davis has enjoyed a season of great populari- 

 ty because it seemed to combine in one apple 

 productiveness, color, and shipping qualities. 



QUALITY THE LEADING FEATURE. 



OF late however, the question of quality 

 has become more and more impor- 

 ant until we find our finest quality, colored 

 cooking apple, the King, is bringing the 

 very highest price in the British market, 

 being sold sometimes as high as $7.00 a 

 barrel, when Greenings and Baldwiiis are 

 only $3.00 and $5.00. We have no doubt 

 at all that quality will every year become 

 more important and that, for the best results, 

 especially in a fancy trade, high flavor will 

 be in time a more important feature for the 

 grower to consider, than even productiveness 

 of tree or color of fruit. For the man who 

 can afford to wait, and who will give the best 

 cultivation, our Northern Spy is most to 

 be commended, for it combines quality and 

 beauty as no other apple on the list, while 

 the Ben Davis is almost at the bottom of the 

 list tor quality, and should be planted spar- 

 ingly. 



THE BEN DAVIS. 



OUR position on this question is strength- 

 ened by the present drop in demand 

 for Ben Davis, where this apple is best 



known. Immense orchards of it have been 

 planted in Illinois and great profits have 

 been made from them ; but a change has 

 come, for consumers have tired of an apple 

 of such poor quality and are asking for some- 

 thing better. In proof, we quote from "The 

 Fruit Grower's Journal," ofCobden, 111., as 

 follows : "The current receipts of apples in 

 this and other leading markets of the West 

 at present and for some time past, show 

 that over nine-tenths of the receipts are of 

 the Ben Davis variety. On last Saturday 

 four boats unloaded on our levee 10,000 

 barrels of apples, fully three-fourths of them 

 from Illinois and the remainder from Mis- 

 souri. A canvas of the subject among the 

 receivers disclosed the fact that 9,500 barrels 

 were Ben Davis, and railroad receipts show 

 a similar record. Now this proportion is 

 out of all reason, greatly to the detriment of 

 the apple industry and an injury to the apple 

 growers at large. 



"For years the Ben Davis has been found 

 a profitable apple from a commercial stand- 

 point, and this has led to a heavy run on the 

 nurserymen for such trees. The demand 

 not only continued without abatement, but 

 rapidly increased to the exclusion of all the 

 better sorts, and we are thus confronted with 

 the startling fact that a large number of the 

 best varieties grown had to give way to one 

 of the poorest in cultivation — an apple hardly 

 fit to eat or cook, and yet every market in 

 the entire southwest is now flooded with it. 

 The inevitable result is before us, as the Ben 

 Davis is now selling at figures that average 

 only a trifle over half that the other sorts are 

 bringing. 



"A most discouraging feature is still in 

 store for the Ben Davis, for most of the orders 

 coming in for apples now request no more 

 Ben Davis. Even the country merchant, 

 who orders only five or ten barrels, almost 

 invariably adds, * Don't send me any Ben 

 Davis.' Thus much lower prices for it 

 seem assured, while the other sorts, so much 



