204 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Mat 



For the New England Fanner. 

 VARIETIES OF NEW APPLES. 



In running my eye over the last edition of 

 Downing on the Fruits and Fruit Trees of Amer- 

 ica, I was struck with the number of new varie- 

 ties of the apple he had added to his list in ten 

 years. Within a circle of twenty-five or thirty 

 Kiles in diameter, near the centre of which I re- 

 side, I find twelve new kinds, which I will give, 

 together with the place of their origin. 



Garden Koyal Sudbury. 



American Beauty Sterling. 



Fall Orange Holden. 



Hill's Favorite. . ..Leominster. 



Magnolia ....Bol'on. 



Washington Royal. . . . Sterling. 



Mother Bolton . 



Carter Leominster 



Foundling Groton. 



Hunt's Russet Concord. 



Priest's Sweet.... Leominster. 

 Willis' Kusset Sudburv. 



well deserves the reputation you give it, it can- 

 not, probably, be found in one in ten of the gar- 

 dens or orchards of the people. 



The Hunt Russet is one of the surest bearers, 

 and the fruit remarkable for its long-keeping 

 qualities, as well as for its delicious flavor, yet it 

 cannot be found in one-fourth of the orchards o 

 the county. And these deficiencies exist, while 

 the people are cultivating third and fourth-rate 

 fruit that requires its own weight in sugar and 

 spices to soften and make palatable its harsh- 

 ness. 



It may be said that accounts of these good ap- 

 ples may be found in the books — so they are, 



Now I can speak of most of these apples from ^^anks to those who have given them attention 

 actual experience. 1 regard the (jaruen Koyal I , ^ , , , , , 



as the most delicious early autumn apple thatp*^"^ ''"^^^ ^'"^ ""^ scattered broadcast among 

 I know. The Foundling, in this neighborhood, the farmers, as are newspapers. So we hope 

 is perhaps entitled to the second pl^ce. The our correspondent will amuse himsi-lf, and ben- 

 Carter is an acquaintance, and a most agreeable I efit others by giving us brief sketches of the ap- 

 one too, of fifty years standing, and, regarding it j ^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ originated on our own soil, 

 as both a cooking and a desert apple, has lew ' ^ 



equals and no superiors, from October to Janu- j 

 ary, while the Mother, with those who know it EIGHTH LEGISLATIVE AQRICULTUIIAIj 



well, ranks equally high during the same period. 

 The two russets, Hunt's and Willis', are both de- 

 servedly favorites, which will be in season from 

 January to May, and the Washington Royal, 

 which Downing endorses on the authority of the 

 A". E. Farmer, wi 1 carry us through till we can 

 gather our apples fresh from the trees. The 

 other kinds will probably afl'ord us a variety, and 

 perhaps an equally agreeable flavor, while the 

 American Beauty and Priest's Sweet will furnish 

 the baking pan from September to May. 



This, I think, is very well for a little circle of 

 thirty miles diameter, and yet I have eaten ap- 

 ples nearly or quite as good as these, in the same 

 region, which had no name known to the pro- 

 ducer. 



If this district was carefully canvassed, I do 

 not doubt that at least twelve more varieties of 

 neurly, o'* quite equal excellence, would be 

 Drought to light. Who will be the explorer ? 

 Who will found an establishment for systemati- 

 cally testing our native fruits and disseminating 

 those of real merit ? Will not some of our 

 horticultural associations make it an especial 

 subject of their attention ? Is it not a matter of 

 much more interest to fruit-growers than the in- 

 troduction of foreign varieties, or even those from 

 the Middle and Western States ? 



Henry Lincoln. 



Lancaster, Mass., March, 1859. 



Remarks. — An excellent article — please let us 

 hear from you again on similar subjects. We 

 think a more particular account from you, of 

 these and other home varieties of apples, would 

 be of essential service. Such particulars, for in- 

 stance, as the habits of the tree, with regard to 

 quickness of growth, form, soil adapted to it, 

 time of fruiting, flavor, and keeping qualities 

 of the fruit, &c. &c. 



Notwithstanding the Oarden Royal originated 

 In about the centre of Middlesex County, and 



MEETING. 

 [Reported by Job:* C. Moore, for the N. E. F.4rmer } 



The meeting of the Legislative Agricultural 

 Society, last Monday evening, was well attended. 

 The subject discussed was "Drainage," 



Dr. G. B. LoRlNG, of Salem, occupied the 

 Chair. In opening the discussion, he said that 

 the proce.ss by which land might be relieved of 

 its superfluous moisture was one of the most im- 

 portant to the agriculturist. It lay at the very 

 foundation of the successful cultivation of the 

 soil. He did not refer to large operations ; but 

 large tracts of land saturated by springs, or hold- 

 ing in their basins the drainage of the hills or 

 the falling rains and snows, which did demand 

 the attention of the farmer. These were to be 

 found everywhere. Hardly a farm could be found 

 in New England which did not contain many val- 

 uable acres where cultivation was a matter of 

 great uncertainty, on account of the water with 

 which they are chilled and drowned. Every farm- 

 er knew that a ditch properly cut through a swamp 

 would drain it. Every farmer knew that surface 

 water would escape by means of dead furrows 

 and an open drain. But most farmers had seen 

 their strongest soils fail in the production of cul- 

 tivated crops, and their best grass lands invaded 

 by rank and sour herbage, in spite of all their 

 efforts to keep them warm and productive by 

 means of fertilizers. They had, indeed, removed 

 the water from the surface, but the poison lay 

 deeper down, at the roots, dwarfing their crops 

 and neutralizing their manures. The great ob- 

 ject of thorough draining was to deliver farmers 

 of this evil. There were lands where nature did 

 this for them, and where the character of the 

 subsoil and the location of the lands were such 



