204 THE NEW AGRICULTURE, 



are required in the process, so that the seedless kind results 

 in an enormous aggregate economy. 



The work of Spencer, whose name the specially cultivated 

 apple bears, has been no more unique in method than that of 

 other stimulators of horticultural evolution, but the fruit upon 

 which he has chosen to expend his labors is of very great com- 

 mercial and economic importance. Indeed, in these respects 

 it is unsurpassed. The apple is everybody's fruit. Besides 

 the millions of bushels annually consumed at home, millions 

 of barrels are annually shipped abroad. Already there is an 

 advanced guard of fruit growers and farmers who have 

 learned what our most successful manufacturers have found 

 out, that the way to invade and capture and control the world's 

 markets is to replace old methods, old machinery, old varieties 

 of grain and root and fruit with the latest and the best, pinning 

 their faith to the unshaken law that whatever meets the uni- 

 versal demand and is most economic must meet with the 

 most certain financial success. 



The tree bearing the seedless apple is blossomless. In its 

 stead is a cluster of small elongated green leaves, in the midst 

 of which the fruit is formed and sheltered. It is claimed that 

 on account of the protection thus afforded early frosts pass 

 these apples harmlessly by ; but, while this statement seems 

 reasonable enough, I am not able to speak from personal knowl- 

 edge regarding it. I have, however, had the privilege of see- 

 ing and cutting these apples and it is certain that they are 

 seedless and practically coreless, there being only a thin mem- 

 brane, and this in process of obliteration, to indicate the former 

 existence of the seed pockets. The apple is a winter variety, 

 a good keeper, about the average size of the Baldwin, while in 

 flavor it has been compared both to the Baldwin and to the 



