THE LADIES' SWEETING APPLE. 



Ladies Sweeting. Fruits and Fruit Trees of America. 



The Ladies' Sweeting has attracted unusual at- 

 tention among orchai'dists and cultivators of fruit, 

 and it has been pronounced by some as " far the 

 finest" winter sweet apple yet produced. It is a 

 very beautiful looking fruit, comparing, in this re- 

 spect, with the Baldwin, and possesses the excel- 

 lent quality of keeping into April and May, without 

 the loss of juiciness and flavor, so general with most 

 of our sweet apples. It has not the rich sweet of 

 the Broadwell, which also keeps very late, but Avhat 

 little it loses in this respect is made up in its showy appearance : nei- 

 ther is it so vigorous a growing tree as the Tolman or Danvers Winter 

 Sweet, and some others, but, taking its combined qualities, it must be 

 considered a very valuable variety. 



The Ladies' Sweeting, according to Mr. Downing, originated in the 

 vicinky of Newburg, N. Y., and for a long time previous to his account 

 of it in the Fruits and Fruit Trees of America, had only a local reputa- 

 tion, — confined to the banks of the Hudson. The ti'ees were first dis- 

 seminated from the nurseries of Messrs. Downing, upwards of a dozen 

 years ago, but owing to their moderate growth it is only within a year 

 or two that they have come into bearing beyond their native locality ; 

 consequently the fruit is yet too sparingly produced to find its way into 

 the markets. 



It has been supposed by some cultivators that it would not succeed 

 so well in our New England climate as in its native locality on the 

 Hudson ; but that, like the Newtown Pippin and some other sorts, it 

 would require a more genial climate and warmer soil. A short expe- 

 rience, however, proves that it flourishes as well as the Baldwin. In 

 the garden of the late Capt. Lovett of Beverly, who was one of the first 

 to introduce it here, finer specimens have been raised than we have ever 

 seen elsewhere, and our beautiful drawing is made from fruits received 

 from his collection in 1854. We can safely commend it as suited to 

 our New England orchards. 



The tree is a slow grower, making slender annual growths, and an 

 open roundish head. It is late in coming into bearing, but ultimately 

 produces abundant crops. 



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