PBOMISING NEW FRUITS. 



By WILLIAM A. TAYLOR, 

 Pomologist in Charge of Field Investigations, Bureau of Plant Industry. 



INTRODUCTION. 



The question as to what varieties of fruits and nuts to plant is one 

 that confronts the orchardist when he contemplates an increase of 

 his orchard or vineyard. Requiring a more or less permanent invest- 

 ment of capital in the form of land and labor, as well as cost of nursery 

 stock, it is essential that he choose such varieties as shall not only 

 be adapted to his climatic and soil conditions, but also to the markets 

 or uses for which their products are intended. The desires and needs 

 of consumers change as time rolls on, so that sorts that were once 

 profitable cease to be so, even though they do not deteriorate in any 

 way; hence continual attention by the grower to the new sorts that 

 come to notice is advisable. A few of the more promising new varie- 

 ties for cultivation in different sections of the country are described 

 and illustrated here in continuation of the series begun in the Year- 

 book for 1901 and contributed yearly since that time. 



MAGNATE APPLE. 



(SYNONYMS: Magnet of some; Stayman's Superior; Stayman's No. 1 of some; Stay- 

 man's No. 2 of some.) 



[PLATE XXV.] 



This promising early winter variety is a seedling of Winesap which 

 originated with the late Dr. J. Stayman, at Leavenworth, Kans., in 

 1866. After the original tree came into bearing it appears to have 

 been considerably disseminated by the originator, in the form of 

 scions for testing, from about 1884 until his death, in 1903. While a 

 number of descriptions and outlines of the variety made by Doctor 

 Stayman are preserved in the extensive collection of such material 

 bequeathed by him to the Department of Agriculture, it is appar- 

 ently impossible at this time to determine under what designation 

 the variety was first disseminated. 



It appears to have reached Mr. J. W. Kerr, 6 Denton, Md., in the 

 winter of 1884-85 under the designation " Stayman's Xo. 1" with 

 others of Doctor Stayman's seedlings in the form of scions from 



MS. notes of Dr. J. Stayman in Poinological Collections, Bureau of Plant Industry. 

 *> Letters from J. W. Kerr, December, 1906. 



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