THE 



Canadian Horticulturist 



SEPTEMBER, 1903 



Volume XXVI 



Number 9 



CHENANGO 



(CHENANGO STRAWBERRY, SHERWOOD'S FAVORITE.) 



BY THK EDITOR. 



MANY years ago, when a boy visit- 

 ing his grandfather's farm on 

 the banks of the Chenango river, 

 at Earlville, Chenango Co., N.Y., the writer 

 remembers being shown an old tree, laden 

 with apples, which the old gentleman called 

 Chenango and of which he was very proud' 

 counting it the finest eating apple in his 

 whole orchard. We little thought then that 

 one day we would be very much interested 

 in knowing the history of the apple, or how 

 near we were to the town of Lebanon, N. Y., 

 the place of its origin. 



Of late years this apple has been coming 

 to the front in Ontario, and has recently 

 been placed upon the model prize list issued 

 under the authority of the Department of 

 Agriculture as being worthy of cultivation, 

 and good samples may be seen every year 

 on the fruit tables of the Industrial Exhibi- 

 tion. Our Russian friend, the late Jaros- 

 lav Niemetz, horticulturist of the college at 

 Rovno, Wolinia, on the occasion of his re- 

 cent visit to Canada, accompanied the writer 

 to the Industrial Fair with an especial eye 

 to study the fruit exhibit, and no variety on 

 the tables seemed to interest him so much 



as the Chenango. He took careful notes 

 of its characteristics and requested us to 

 send him scions that he might propagate it 

 in his country. 



The apple is certainly a fine dessert apple 

 for use in September and October, for it is 

 beautiful in appearance and very agreeable 

 to the taste. The flesh is creamy white in 

 color, and, in texture, tender and moderate- 

 ly juicy, while the flavor is spicy and agree- 

 able. The exterior is a delicate whitish 

 ground, on which the light and dark shades 

 and stripes of red show up beautifully. 



The tree is fairly vigorous and produc- 

 tive, and has the special merit of being re- 

 sistant to that plague of the apple grower, 

 the apple scab, from which both its foliage 

 and its fruit are free. 



We do not advise the planting of this 

 apple in the commercial orchards of On- 

 tario, because it has too tender a flesh to be 

 a good shipper, and we have other Septem- 

 ber apples which would probably give more 

 certain, returns ; but for the home garden, 

 to which, unfortunately, many people attach 

 too little importance, a tree or two of the 

 Chenango is very desirable. 



