APPLES 



81 



Number of varietal names of apples in last revision of American Pomological 



Society's "recommended list"* 319 



Number of crab apple names, same source 32 



Total number in American Pomological Society lists 351 



Number of varietal names of apples and crabs published in 1892 in 95 catalogues 878 



Approximate number of distinct varieties of apples included in same catalogues 735 



Approximate number crab varieties offered in same catalogues 40 



Total 775 



Number of varieties of apples offered for sale in 1910 in 100 catalogues 472 



Number of crab apple varieties in same catalogues 59 



Total 531 



It is interesting to note here, contrast- 

 ing the results secured from an examina- 

 tion of 95 catalogues in 1892 and 100 

 catalogues in 1910, that there was a 

 smaller number of varieties offered for 

 Bale in the 1910 collection than there was 

 In the collection of 1892 by about 263. In- 

 cluding the crabs the difference was 244 

 as more crabs were offered in 1891 than 

 there were in 1892. 



We can name about ten varieties of ap- 

 ples which comprise probably 75 to 90 

 per cent of the apples that enter into 

 commerce. Such a variety list might 

 comprise the Baldwin, Ben Davis, Jona- 

 than, Northern Spy, Rhode Island Green- 

 ing, Roxbury, Tompkins King, Yellow 

 Newtown and York Imperial. These vari- 

 eties are at least among the more im- 

 portant commercial sorts. And what of 

 their history? Baldwin has been fruiting 

 since the middle of the eighteenth cen- 

 tury; Ben Davis doubtless began to be 

 propagated a hundred years ago; Jonathan 

 was shown on an exhibit table in 1829. 

 Northern Spy has tickled the palate of 

 the consumer for more than a hundred 

 years; Rhode Island Greening was rec- 

 ommended for its long keeping qualities 

 in 1806; scions of Roxbury were being 

 grafted as long ago as 1650; Tompkins 

 King had made something of a history 

 for itself as far back as 1806. No one 

 knows whence came the Winesap but it 

 was described in 1817. Benjamin Frank- 

 lin received specimens of Yellow New- 

 town (Albemarle Pippin) in London in 

 1759. while York Imperial has been prop- 



• Bureau of Plant Industry. Bulletin 1.51. T'. 

 R. Department of .\?riculture : also Proceedings 

 American Pomological Society. 1909. 



agated commercially for about 80 years. 

 What a history! There are comparatively 

 few men who are growing apples in the 

 United States today who haven't been 

 born since the most recent of this galaxy 

 of varieties originated. And yet these are 

 the sorts which are very largely making 

 commercial apple growing what it is at 

 the present time. 



Of course there are other important 

 sorts that are recent candidates for fa- 

 vor, such as Stayman Winesap, but it is 

 now 45 years since Dr. Stayman planted 

 the seed from which it came; and Arkan- 

 sas, better known as Mammoth Black 

 Twig, but the original tree of this vari- 

 ety is probably 75 or 80 years old: and 

 a Virginia variety now bidding for favor 

 — Lowry. or Mosby's Best or Dixie, as it 

 is variously called; but the original of this 

 variety first attracted attention many 

 years ago; and Delicious — this at first 

 thought impresses us as a distinctly 

 "new" apple as it was commercialy intro- 

 duced only about six years ago. Yet as 

 a young tree probably five or six years 

 old, it began to attract attention locally 

 about 30 years ago. 



These varieties forever link the past 

 with the present in fruit growing, even 

 reaching over in prospect, far into the 

 future. They forcibly illustrate how an 

 apple variety must be old in point of years 

 before it can have an important place in 

 the apple industry. 



Development of Spraying 



Turning now to another phase of the 

 question, a few statements will point out 

 the course of development in the spraying 

 of orchards for insect pests and fungus 



