THE APPLES OF NEW YORK. 179 



September. When fully ripe and mellow it is desirable for dessert 

 use. The tree is of medium size, a good grower, moderately long- 

 lived, comes into bearing rather young and is a reliable cropper, 

 yielding moderate to good crops biennially or sometimes annually. 

 The fruit hangs to the tree pretty well till it is fully ripe, but as 

 the crop matures unevenly there is apt to be considerable loss from 

 the dropping of the fruit unless several pickings are made. It is 

 not very uniform in size, and a considerable amount of it is small 

 or otherwise unmarketable. It is very perishable, and on this 

 account not well adapted for shipping to distant markets. It is 

 very common in local markets, but often the supply so much ex- 

 ceeds the demand that prices are consequently low. 



Historical. Hogg states that Red Astrachan was imported from Sweden 

 into England in 1816 but Lindley (6) states that " This very beautiful 

 apple was imported from Sweden, and first fruited by William Atkinson, 

 Esq., of Grove End, Paddington, in 1816." It was one of the first of the 

 Russian apples imported into America. It was received by the Massa- 

 chusetts Horticultural Society from the London (Eng.) Horticultural So- 

 ciety about 1835 but this was not the first importation for fruit of Red 

 Astrachan was included in one of the exhibitions of the Massachusetts 

 Horticultural Society in 1835 (8). It has become generally disseminated 

 throughout the apple-growing districts of the continent and is commonly 

 listed from the Atlantic to the Pacific and from Canada to the Gulf states. 



TREE. 



Tree medium to rather large, moderately vigorous to vigorous. Form up- 

 right spreading to roundish, rather dense. 'Twigs medium to long, curved, 

 stout to rather slender; internodes long. Bark clear brown, lightly streaked 

 with scarf-skin, pubescent near the tips. Lenticels quite numerous, medium to 

 small, oblong, slightly raised. Buds medium in size, plump, obtuse to acute, 

 free, pubescent. 



FRUIT. 



Fruit medium to sometimes large, not very uniform in size or shape. 

 Form roundish to roundish oblate, inclined to conical, somewhat ribbed; 

 sides a little unequal. Stem medium, rather slender, bracted. Cavity acute 

 to sometimes obtuse, medium to deep, moderately broad, often thinly rus- 

 seted with greenish russet, usually symmetrical, sometimes lipped. Calyx 

 medium to rather large, open or closed ; lobes rather long, moderately broad. 

 Basin shallow, narrow to medium in width, obtuse, wrinkled. 



Skin rather thin, moderately tender, smooth, pale yellow or greenish 

 often nearly or quite overspread with light and dark red splashed and irreg- 

 ularly striped with deep crimson or carmine and covered with rather heavy 

 distinct bluish bloom. Dots numerous, small, whitish. 



