272 THE APPLES OF NEW YORK. 



that the fruit is small. On account of the lateness of its blooming 

 season Rails frequently sets a good crop of fruit when earlier 

 blooming varieties fail on account of unfavorable weather during 

 the blossoming season. 



Rails is but little known among New York fruit growers and is 

 not recommended for planting in this state. 



Historical. The first that is definitely known of this variety is that trees 

 of it were growing on the farm of Mr. Caleb Rails in Amherst county, 

 Virginia, something over a hundred years ago. There is no evidence to show 

 whether it was a local seedling or an importation from some other section. 

 Howsley (23) states that it was brought from France to President Jefferson 

 by M. Genet at that time the minister from that country. This claim does 

 not seem to have been made in print till about one hundred years after the 

 time of its alleged occurrence and as there are no records to verify it, its 

 truth seems problematical. We regard it as probably a Virginia seedling. 

 Spreading from Virginia it has come into more or less common cultivation 

 southward into the Carolinas and Georgia, northward into Southern Michigan 

 and westward across the Mississippi valley to and beyond the Ozarks, but it 

 remains practically unknown among New York fruit growers. 



TREE. 



Tree medium in size, moderately vigorous. Form upright becoming spread- 

 ing and inclined to droop, dense. Twigs short, curved, moderately stout ; 

 internodes short. Bark dull brown mingled with olive-green, lightly mottled 

 with scarf-skin, slightly pubescent. Lenticcls numerous, small, oblong, not 

 raised. Buds medium in size, broad, plump, obtuse, free or nearly so, slightly 

 pubescent. 



FRUIT. 



Fruit below medium to above, pretty uniform in size and shape. Form 

 roundish oblate varying to roundish inclined to conic, rather symmetrical. 

 Stem often long and slender. Cavity obtuse to acute, deep, sometimes com- 

 pressed or somewhat furrowed, often russeted. Calyx small to medium, 

 usually somewhat open. Basin often a little oblique, wide, rather shallow to 

 moderately deep, inclined to abrupt, wrinkled. 



Skin smooth, yellow or greenish blushed and mottled with pinkish red, in- 

 distinctly striped with dull carmine, overspread with a light bloom which 

 together with broken stripes of thin whitish scarf-skin combine to give the 

 fruit a rather dull appearance. Dots numerous, small, whitish or russet. 



Calyx tube broad cone-shape or frequently funnel-shape. Stamens marginal 

 or nearly so. 



Core medium in size, axile or slightly abaxile; cells closed or partly open; 

 core lines meeting or slightly clasping. Carpels rather flat, broadly roundish, 

 emarginate, slightly tufted. Seeds medium or above, narrow, plump, acute, 

 dark. 



I-lcsh whitish, firm, moderately fine-grained, crisp, moderately tender, juicy, 

 subacid with a slight mingling of sweet, aromatic, pleasant, very good for 

 dessert. 



