NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



123 



For the. New Ens/and Farmer. 



THS HISTORY OF THE APPLE TREE. 



BY S. P. FOWLER. 

 [continued.] 



The cultivation of the apple in this country, in 

 the days of the first settlers, was confined to a few 

 varieties. Some of those, now in cultivation, are 

 the High-top Sweeting, Winter Pearraain, and an 

 apple cultivated by Governor Endicott on his 

 orchard farm, and called the Endicott Flatcap 

 Sweeting. This fruit, we have cultivated for its 

 antiquity, and have found it to bo a small second 

 rate, late fall, or early winter sweet apple. This 

 apple, and the old Endicott pear, are the only 

 Kinds of fruit, that have come clown to us from 

 the old governor's famous orchard farm, planted 

 more than two centuries since. Some of the best 

 apples that we now cultivate originated in Mas- 

 sachusetts, many years ago. The Baldwin has 

 been known for a century, and was called in its 

 early days the Woodpecker apple — likewise the 

 Pecker apple, and the Butters apple. It acquired 

 this last name, in consequence of its having orig- 

 inated on the farm of a Mr. Butters, situated in 

 the town of Somerville, in the county of Middle- 

 sex. The tree is not standing, but a monument 

 has been placed on the site, where it once flour- 

 ished. The Danvers Winter Sweet is another fine 

 Massachusetts apple, and has been known for 

 more than one hundred years. It originated in 

 South Danvers, on a farm cultivated by Daniel 

 Eppes, Esq., designated, in his time, as the great 

 "New England Schoolmaster." This tree has 

 long been cultivated in the county of Essex, and 

 was formerly known as the Eppes Sweeting, hav- 

 ing acquired this name from its first cultivator, 

 likewise the Ippotent Sweeting and Ipswich Sweet- 

 ing ; it is, however, now generally known as the 

 Danvers Winter Sweet. We have been informed 

 that th*e original tree disappeared several years 

 ago. And could the site where it once flourished 

 be found, I am persuaded my esteemed friend, 

 Kendall shorn, Esq., who now owns the farm 

 where or near this fine apple originated, would 

 place a simple monument, like the one erected to 

 the Baldwin, to mark the spot where it once grew. 

 Notwithstanding the many new varieties of ap- 

 ples, that have been introduced within a few 

 years, we doubt very much if two better kinds 

 can now be found, possessing so many good qual- 

 ities, so well adapted to our climate and culture, 

 and withal so profitable for the market, as these 

 two old, well-tested apples, which have comedown 

 to us from past generations. 



I wish here to say a few words to those who 

 are about planting the Baldwin, or the Danvers 

 Winter Sweet. As a general rule, the Baldwin 

 bears its fruit mostly in even years, as we term it, 

 hence we may expect the present year to be what 

 is termed a Baldwin year. The next or interme- 

 diate year, with a few exceptions, will be a bar- 

 ren year with this tree. Thus we find in these 

 bearing years, a great amount of fruit, and con- 

 sequently low prices. And in the barren years, 

 a comparative scarcity of fruit, and high prices. 

 Now as we have before said, it is the habit of the 

 Baldwin tree to produce fruit in even years, and 

 but few, if any, in odd years. But this is not a 

 fixed habit ; we occasionally find a tree, whose 

 habit is to bear fruit in odd years, and but few, if 



any, in even years. Now we can profit by under- 

 standing the habits of the Baldwin, and obtain a 

 succession of fruit, both for our own use, and for 

 the market, by budding and grafting from those 

 trees known to bear in odd years. By so doing, we 

 shall probably obtain, in nine cases out often, the 

 kind we desire. Care should likewise be taken to 

 cultivate none but those possessing the best flavor, 

 never forgetting, that some trees bearing red ap- 

 ples, aild sometimes sold for Baldwins, are not al- 

 ways the genuine kind of fruit. Those about to 

 plant the Danvers Winter Sweeting, should be 

 careful to procure the true kind, as it is sometimes 

 confounded with the Green Sweeting, — which it 

 somewhat resembles, but can readily be distin- 

 guished from that apple when ripe, by its beauti- 

 ful yellow skin, and an occasional red cheek, when 

 exposed to the sun. As we have before said, 

 there are two other old varieties of apples, now in 

 cultivation; one is the Pearmain, cultivated by 

 the fathers of the old colony, and undoubtedly 

 brought over by some of the early colonists. It 

 is still cultivated and esteemed by some persons, 

 who like its peculiar flavor. The High-top Sweet- 

 ing — is another apple peculiar to the old Plymouth 

 Colony, and was extensively cultivated by the first 

 settlers. Mr. Hovey says there are numerous 

 orchards, wholly of this apple, which now hang 

 (August 16, 1848) full of the golden fruit. It is 

 the opinion of this gentleman, that this fruit has 

 been carried to Ohio, disseminated and cultivated 

 under the name of the Summer Sweeting, — where 

 it is said to bo the earliest of the early sweet ap- 

 ples, and is a great favorite. 



Josselyn, in his account of Two Voyages to New 

 England, says the fruit trees of the colonists are 

 subject to two diseases, the meazels, which is when 

 they are burned and scorched with the sun, and 

 lowsiness, when the woodpeckers job holes in the 

 bark : the way to cure them, when they are lowsie, 

 is to bore a hole into the main root, with an augur, 

 and pour in a quantity of Brandie or Rhum, and 

 then stop it up, with a pin made of the same tree. 

 What remedy our ancestors had for what they call 

 the measles in their apple trees, our author does 

 not inform us. Probably the same dose of rum or 

 brandy, as we well know this was an universal 

 medicine for man or beast, in those early times, 

 but we must admit, this is the first time we ever 

 heard of the ardent being administered to a sick 

 apple tree. The meridian rays of the sun falling 

 upon the trunk of a fruit tree, are supposed to pro- 

 duce canker and other diseases, at the present day. 

 The lice spoken of by Josselyn, were not caused 

 by woodpeckers, but were the same which now in- 

 fest apple trees, and are called bark lice. At the 

 present day, those orchards situated in wooded 

 districts are visited by woodpeckers, particularly 

 by the Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers of Wilson, 

 to peck from the apple tree those insects that 

 lie lodged in its bark. To effect this object, these 

 little birds make many holes with their sharp 

 bills, on the trunk and branches of the tree, with- 

 out injuring it. More attention to the increase 

 and preservation of birds should be given by the 

 cultivator. Birds are, undoubtedly, his best allies 

 in the destruction of noxious insects. The Amer- 

 ican Ornithologist, Wilson, who well understood 

 the habits of our birds, says, Providence seems to 

 have formed birds for the protection of our fruit 

 and forest trees, from the ravages of vermin, which 



