268 YEARBOOK OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



The results of a top-working test of a variety should never be 

 accepted as final, however. Not infrequently varieties which make 

 strong and thrifty growth when upon vigorous, well-established stocks 

 develop weaknesses of root, trunk, or foliage when grown by budding 

 or grafting upon the miscellaneous seedling stocks used in ordinary^ 

 nursery practice. In some instances these defects are due to deficient 

 vigor or too slender habit of growth; in others, to inherent inability 

 to endure extremes of temperature or to resist injurious diseases or 

 insect pests. The commercial orchardist, therefore, who desires to 

 keep abreast with the rapidly advancing tide of new sorts should pro- 

 vide at the outset a small area of suitable land upon which he can 

 plant from time to time two or more 3 T oung trees of each new sort that 

 gives indication of commercial value for his section. This is the prac- 

 tice now adopted by some of the most progressive commercial growers, 

 and offers many advantages over the old way of planting heavily of 

 new sorts untested in their region, many of which were destined to 

 failure in some of the important characteristics that go to make up a 

 really valuable commercial sort. Such a tree test is especially impor- 

 tant with peaches and plums, where the commercial value of a variety 

 often hinges upon the cold endurance of the trunk and the fruit buds, 

 or the exact ripening period of the fruit with reference to older sorts 

 already well tested in the region. 



AKIN APPLE. 



(SYNONYMS: Akin Red; Akin Seedling; Akof* Seedling; Aikin'a Red; Atken; Aken not 

 "Akin's Winter" of Downing, which is a crab of Minnesota origin. ) 



[PLATE XXXII.] 



This promising commercial sort, unlike most American varieties of 

 winter apples, appears to have been grown from planted seed. The 

 original tree was grown from seed brought from Tennessee and 

 planted in 1831 by Mrs. Matthew England, near Lawrenceville, 111., 

 on a farm now owned by Mr. W. J. Akin. Seventeen trees were 

 grown from this lot of seed, but only the one described was considered 

 worthy of naming and disseminating. It was first propagated for 

 planting by Mr. John Akin, father of the present owner of the farm, 

 who cut scions from the original tree for grafting in the nursery in 

 1861. Twelve of the trees grown in that year are still standing on 

 the Akin farm. It was first propagated for sale by a Mr. Adams, a 

 nurseryman in Wabash County, 111., in 1868/' It appears to have 

 been first catalogued in 1884, by Simpson and Hogue, under the name 

 Akin's Red, and first illustrated in their catalogue in 1885. 6 In Decem- 

 ber, 1890, it was exhibited by Mr. W. J. Akin at the annual meeting 



Letters of W. J. Akin, Billett, 111., January, 1904. 

 & Letter of H. M. Simpson & Sons, February 15, 1904. 



