188 



GENESEE FARMER. 



Aug. 



White's Loudoun Pippin. 



Dr. D. Lee — Dear Sir: While I was in 

 your State last September, at Gen. Harmon's, 

 in Rochester, or at the State Fair in Utica, I dis- 

 covered in the people an unbounded desire for 

 knowledge. Whether it related to horticulture, 

 the cultivation of diflerent kinds of grain, or the 

 improvement of sheep, cattle and hogs, it wae 

 all the same current, strong and powerful, tend- 

 ing to one point, viz : the acquisition of knowl- 

 edge that improved tlie mind, and that made the 

 body comfortable and the purse stronger. 



I was speaking of fruit in Virginia, and said 

 to some gentlemen in the cars, on our way from 

 Rochester to the State Fair, that we had an Apple 

 in Loudon county, Va., that surpassed in quality 

 anything I had met with in the North — not think- 

 ing that the remark would elicit so much inter- 

 est on the part of my hearers. I soon found, 

 however, that I had several questions to answer. 

 The interrogatories related to the size, color, the 

 cavity in which'the blossom is set, the depth of 

 the cavity in which the stem is placed, the core, 

 &C5, &c. Mr. Langworthy and Mr. Ell- 

 •vvANGER both said I had given the description of 

 a fine Apple. I promised different gentlemen 

 a few grafts, and for the purpose of giving your- 

 self, and others of the kind and hospitable ac- 

 quaintances I made in the North, an opportunity 

 of judging of the qualities of W kite's Loudoun 

 Pippin, (for that is the name,) I determined to 

 send on as many grafts as I could. 



In January I mounted my horse and travelled 

 some twelve miles through the snow, on a pierc- 

 ing cold day, into what is called the Catoctin 

 Mountain, to the house of Mr. White, for the 

 purpose of obtaining grafts — also to get a few of 

 the apples, and to obtain, as far as I could, a cor- 

 rect history of this remarkable fruit. My object 

 in getting some of the apples was to send a sam- 

 ple of them to you and others. In this I failed — 

 Mr. White had disposed of all he had. The ori- 

 gin of them was also designed for your paper, so 

 that all who received the grafts could have a 

 short description of the fruit. The grafts, as I 

 have before stated, were designed for my North- 

 ern friends, so you must be on the look out for 

 them. 



Now for the description. The Apple is a large, 

 white Pippin, quite smooth, thin skin, small core ; 

 it may be said before ripe to be a very delicate 

 green, but ultimately becomes as white as any 

 apple I have ever seen. It varies as little in 

 size as the most uniform apple, being always 

 large. As to the flavor, I can only tell you how 

 good I think it by what an old Dutch friend of 

 ours once told me. He said that a certain arti- 

 cle was " so good that it could'n't be good any 

 more." From what Mr. White told me, I 

 should say that the apple is a seedling. Its his- 

 tory he gave me as follows : " I purchased a tract 

 of land (adjoining my farm,) of a Mr. Cruthers; 



on this land were the remains of an ancient or- 

 chard. Alone stood an old tree that had weath- 

 ered the blasts of many a winter. The fruit was 

 so fine that I commenced grafting from it, and 

 all these fine trees you see here on the farms of my 

 nephews and myself, are from tiiat tree, the fruit 

 of which is called White's Loudoun Pippin." — 

 Tills is what I learned from Mr. White. \ have 

 no doubt of its being a seedling, from the fact 

 its great age precluded the idea of its being a 

 grafted fruit, for the ai't was not practiced so far 

 back in this country. The trees have a hand- 

 some, erect stalk, do not branch out so near the 

 ground as many trees do. The limbs turn up at 

 a very handsome elevation, and upon the whole 

 it is a splendid looking tree. Mr. White in- 

 formed me that the heaviest apple he has weighed 

 was 18 ounces — many of them weighing from 14 

 to 16 ounces. He says that he has frequently 

 sold them in Washington City at an advance of 

 •$1,50 per barrel over all other apples in the 

 market. Yours respectfully, 



Theodore N. Davissox. 

 Wheatland, Loudoun Co., Va. 



The above article from friend Davisson was 

 intended for publication in our April number. 

 It was accidentally mislaid and overlooked. 



New Variety of Wheat for Sowing Late. 



Some years since Mr. Batehaim imported from 

 France a species of Wheat called the Early 

 White Provence. It is a very large and beau- 

 tiful white shii'red berry, and makes the first best 

 flour. Gen. Harmon commenced experimenting 

 with it, but after several years trial abandoned 

 it — finding it to push out very early, and with a 

 tendency to fall down and crinkle. He gave a 

 quantity of the seed to Mr. Wolcott of Bloom- 

 field, who accidentally sowed it after corn, quite 

 late, and found it to do well — i-ipening at the 

 same time with the White Flint, and producing 

 over 40 bushels per acre. This process he has 

 continued since for several years — once sowing 

 during a January thaw, with the same result; 

 at any rate never having less than 40 bushels to 

 the acre, and sometimes more. L. B. Lang- 

 worthy of Greece, and Thos. H. Hyatt of 

 Rochester, have each 6 bushels, and Gen. Har- 

 mon of Wheatland, 12 bushels sown, from which 

 if the result is favorable, those who ha#> a well 

 manured corn field, which they may wish to 

 make a cheap wheat croo from, can we presume 

 procure seed enough to try the experiment. 



It is sometimes very desirable to follow corn 

 or potatoes with wheat, but from the lateness of 

 the season our Flint and other favorite wheats 

 are apt to be so far behind in ripening as to rust 

 and be lost; and if a variety is discovered that 

 may be sown late, and yet ripen before the heats 

 of July destroy it, it is a great desideratum, and 

 worthy of being looked after. ^ 



