182 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



For the Ncic Enr/land Farmer. 



apples- 

 Fall Sweetings, — Roxiuky Husset, — Lel.vnd 

 PivriN. . 



Mr. Editor : Being a subscriber to your valuable 

 paper, and having a nursery of.some twenty thousand 

 fruit trees in various stages of growth, I should 

 deem it a privilege to make some inquiries on the 

 subject of fruits. 



Among all the different kinds of fall sweet apples, 

 whicji do you consider the vcnj best for baking ? 

 There arc many sweet apples that are large and hand- 

 some in appearance, which, in the i^rocess of cooking, 

 "will fall away and lose most of their rich saccharine 

 flavor. 



It is the opinion of many, that the Roxbury Russet 

 is depreciating as to productiveness and quality of the 

 fruit, yielding l)ut a small proportion of fair market- 

 able apples. Can you tell the cause, and propose a 

 remedy ? It is an apple valuable especially for its 

 long keeping, which renders it desirable to retain the 

 species. I have raised a Russet, for the last few years, 

 varying somewhat in shape, which is more like that 

 of the Baldwin, and the color of the skin seems to be 

 a mingling of green and russet — flesh more juicy, 

 not quite so acid, keeps about as long as the old 

 Roxbury Russet, bears more abundantly, and the 

 fruit is fairer, and quite as large. I think it is not 

 the old English Russet. ^lay it not be a cross be- 

 tween the Baldwin and Greening? It is different 

 from the Red Russet which you have described in 

 the last number of the Earmcr, and also in your Fruit- 

 Book. 



I have seen statements of analyses of the wood 

 of the apple and pear-tree, &c., but do not recollect 

 of having seen accounts of experiments of the kind 

 performed on the fruit. No\v it appears to me quite 

 as essential to understand the properties of which the 

 fruit itself is composed, as it is that of the tree, in 

 order to know how we may supply the soil where it 

 may lack any specific properties that are essential to 

 the growth and perfection of the fruit. 



You speak of the Leland Pippin, or Leland Spice 

 Apple, in your American Fruit-Book, as being an ex- 

 cellent apple, — and true it is. I have several trees 

 in bearing, which were brought from Sherburne some 

 twenty years since. With pretty good cultivation, 

 they produce equal to the Baldwin, and fruit nearly 

 as large. It is a fine apple, and many deem it the 

 best of its season, which I think _is longer than is 

 named in your descri])tion, i. e., Sept. 1.5th and Oc- 

 tober. We have had them in use from 20th Septem- 

 ber till January, and have had good specimens in 

 March. 



Yours very respectfull}', 



JOB C. STONE. 



SniiEwsisuKY, Mass., Ajiril 29, 1850. 



Remarks. — Sweet Apples. — In regard to apples, 

 there is no point so unsettled as that relative to the 

 best sweet apples. We have some forty or fifty on 

 trial, and as our experiments on many of them are 

 recent, we cannot decide on their merits, excepting as 

 to their growth. Baked sweet apples arc of very 

 different texture. (See American Fruit-Book, p. 96.) 

 Some are so soft, that they fall down flat when baked, 

 and they mix with milk, forming a kind of porridge. 

 These arc of a fine texture for the dessert. Others 

 arc too hard when cooked. An intermedial kind, in 

 texture, bake soft, but retain their form, even in slices 

 \>hen cut up. This is the kind for baking. 



Full Siceetings, — The Golden Sweet, often called 

 Orange Sweet, which ripens the last of August, and 

 continues through September, is excellent for baking. 

 The Sassafras Sweet is said to be excellent for baking, 

 but as we have had only a few specimens, we have 

 not cooked them. It comes into use in September, 

 and sometimes continues through the fall. The 

 Pumjjkin Sweet is an excellent baking apple, but a 

 poor bearer. There are many other fall sweet apples 

 of some notoriety, but their habits are not well 

 known. Superb Sweet is one of the finest early 

 fall sweet apples for the dessert, but it is probably 

 too soft as a cooking apple to be used with milk. 



Roxbury Russet. — It is evident that this fi'uit does 

 not flourish so well in this section as formerly, and 

 many cultivators are discarding it ; yet we think that 

 tliis defect is not owing to any decline in this fruit, 

 for it still flourishes well in new countries ; but it is 

 doubtless owing to our lands becoming old, and ex- 

 hausted of some essential ingredients. If original 

 forests were cleared off, and the land planted with 

 this fruit, it would doubtless flourish as formerly. 

 We often complain that fruit declines, when, in 

 reality, the land declines, and the fruit declines only 

 as a consequence of the declension of the land. 



Analysis of Fruits. — This would be a nice business 

 indeed for the chemist ; and we doubt that he would 

 determine what elements give to fruit its peculiar 

 flavor and fine aroma, for these depend on properties 

 remarkably e\iinescent and volatile, that arc passing 

 away with more rapidity than the man of science 

 can produce his manipulations in his laboratory. 



Leland Pippin is the standard name of this fruit, 

 for under this appellation we first described and in- 

 troduced it to public notice. Wc are aware that this 

 fruit may be kept until winter, but we have observed 

 that it loses its good qualities after October. It is 

 usually disposed of in this market in_ September. 

 This fruit is of a high quality, but rather too acid for 

 the table, according to the taste of many. Those 

 who like mild fruits would prefer Bars, Long Stem, 

 Richardson, Garden Royal, and Magnolia, which are 

 milder, and some of which rii^en about the same time, 

 and others earlier. 



A NEW MANURE. 



Robert Bryson, Esq., of Cumberland county, about 

 eight miles from Harrisburg, has been experimenting 

 for the last ten years, to make exhausted tan-bark 

 available and valuable as a manure. Besides his 

 magnificent farm, he likewise carries on the tanning 

 business. Finally, after a great deal of expense and 

 many failures, he has succeeded in discovering a 

 method of producing from the tan an efficient manure. 

 This is his plan : he has his tan wheeled out on a 

 level piece of ground, and levelled off, two or three 

 feet thick. Over this he spreads a layer of two or 

 three inches of lime, and over that, again, a stratum 

 of tan, then a layer of lime, and so on. He lets the 

 bed, so prepared, remain for two years : at the end of 

 that time he finds himself in possession of a bed of 

 manure, the effects of which upon the land can hardly 

 be surpassed for the richness of its product and the 

 duraVde fertibty which it imparts. — Lancaster Go. 

 (^Pa.) Farmer. 



