VARIETIES OF APPLES. 259 



to add the Drap d'Or, as a cooking apple of the most hardy and 

 productive kind. During these late years of barrenness the 

 Drap d'Or has never failed to yield bountifully, and the Dutch 

 Mignonne has been like unto it. The trees of both these sorts 

 seem to possess a constitutional vigor that enables them to bear 

 fruit even in unpropitious seasons. 



The name of good winter apples is legion, for they are many. 

 We put the Rhode Island Greening first, as the tree is vigorous, 

 produces an abundant crop annually, and not biennially, as does 

 the Baldwin, and the fruit, both for the dessert and cooking, if 

 not first-rate, falls but little short of it. The Spitzenbcrg has a 

 far higher flavor, and for cooking is No. 1, but is too hard and 

 indigestible for a dessert friiit, and the tree has not so vigorous 

 a constitution as to warrant planting it in lai'ge quantity. The 

 Hubbardston Nonsuch is excellent, but we are not ready to 

 yield it the title of Nonsuch if that title means none so good. 

 The Yellow Belle Flower is also excellent, if planted in a sandy 

 soil. The Northern Spy is a great accession to our winter 

 fruits, as it is a crisp, well-flavored fruit, good in January, is 

 a late keeper, and the tree seems hardy ; but with us the fruit 

 has not been uniform, some specimens being large and fiiir and 

 others small. The King of Tompkins County also promises 

 well, but we have not tried sufficiently to pronounce with con- 

 fidence upon its character. " Confidence is a plant of slow 

 growth " among apples as well as among men. We are aware 

 that we have left out the Roxbury Russet, Tolman Sweet and 

 many other winter apples in the above list ; but time would fail 

 us to notice all that deserve honorable mention. 



We desire to add a word about the preservation of apples, 

 and their conversion into that much abused, but when taken 

 temperately, most healthful beverage, cider, but we fear we 

 have already transgressed our limits. We must however 

 express our honest convictions that the manufacture of cider is 

 worthy of a more careful consideration by the farming commu- 

 nity than it has hitherto received. The juice of the apple is 

 capable of being converted into a beverage little if any inferior 

 to that manufactured from the grape. The aroma of cider is 

 not equal to wine, but the acid is congenial to most stomachs, 

 and is a great promoter of digestion, and so far as health is 

 concerned, we place cider above wine. When the price was 



