1076 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 15 



apple, not extra large, almost round, striped 

 with brilliant red, perhaps a trace of yellow. 

 It has one particular feature that makes it 

 look remarkably tempting. Wherever a 

 leaf rests on an apple, usually around near 

 the stem, under the leaf it is a delicate white, 

 shading into a rosy red where the light gets 

 in, giving dashes of pearly white, occasion- 

 ally, as if a painter had dabbed his brush 

 just a little here and there. The apple can 

 hardly be called sweet or sour, but it is a 

 beautiful combination of both. It is quite 

 juicy, and many of them are water-core; 

 but when fully ripe it almost melts in the 

 mouth like a peach. They commence ripen- 

 ing about the first of September, and last 

 pretty well throughout October. 



Our readers may remember that I have 

 spoken twice about an apple-tree that com- 

 menced bearing remarkably early. In fact, 

 it had three or four nice apples the season 

 after it was taken from the nursery. At 

 the time, I called it the Porter apple, and 

 said it was about as early as the Early Har- 

 vest. Several of our reader's protested that 

 the Porter ripened along in the fall. Well, 

 I have just discovered this season that the 

 two trees were misplaced. The one I was 

 talking about is the Yellow Transparent. 

 The real Porter apple-tree did not commence 

 bearing until two years later. This year 

 there were perhaps twenty or thirty great 

 beauties on the Porter tree. They ripened 

 about with the Gravenstein— perhaps a little 

 earher— a very large conical-shaped apple, 

 yellow in color, and one of the best in quali- 

 ty, according to my notion. This year the 

 twenty or thirty apples were none of them 

 wormy so far as I could discover, and nearly 

 if not all were quite perfect in shape. I 

 wonder if this is a peculiarity of the Porter. 

 It is a beautiful cooking apple, and when 

 dead ripe Mrs. Root said it would make nice 

 sauce in ten minutes. By the way, Mrs. 

 Root's favorite cooking apple is the Twenty- 

 ounce Pippin, sometimes called Cayuga Red- 

 streak. This cooks about as quick as the 

 Porter, is of excellent quality, and the apples 

 grow so large that one of them will make a 

 pie or a bowl of sauce. Our very large 

 apples, or large any thing else, is seldom of 

 the best quality. Hold on! that might mean 

 men and women; and lest some of my big 

 friends take offense I will say it does not ap- 

 ply to people. Well, the Twenty-ounce is 

 not only tremendous in size, but it is excel- 

 lent in quality. About the only objection I 

 know to it is that many are of bad shape, 

 and all or nearly all have a warty uneven 

 surface. They do not pare quite as nicely 

 as the Gravenstein and the Porter. 



There is one more apple that rejoices the 

 hearts of our whole neighborhood, especial- 

 ly the juveniles. We bought it for a Mann 

 apple, but there is some dispute as to wheth- 

 er it is the genuine Mann. These commence 

 ripening a little after the Early Harvest, 

 and they continue to ripen gradually for al- 

 most if not quite three months— say August, 

 September, and October. They are about 

 the juiciest apple I ever got hold of. The 



flesh is as crisp as a fresh stalk of celery. 

 They do not grow very large— especially when 

 the tree is loaded as full as it was this year. 

 The Pomological Department at Washington 

 said some specimens I sent them in October 

 they thought were not the real Mann at all 

 —that they lacked both in size and quality. 

 The apple is pearly white when dead ripe. 

 Prof. Brackett, of the Pomological Depart- 

 ment, wishes me to say that he will gladly 

 name any apple you may have in your or- 

 chards, and the Department will send boxes 

 for the specimens so that you can mail 

 them without cost. This is done to encour- 

 age people in calling apples by their right 

 names. The Department has several bulle- 

 tins to dispose of free of charge on apple 

 culture— varieties, etc. 



Now, my good friend, if you haven't one 

 or more apple-trees of your own, so you can 

 watch the fruit every day, see it put on its 

 gorgeous colors, and ripen up, so you can 

 pick it when it is just right, you are missing 

 one of the great enjoyments the kind Fa- 

 ther vouchsafes his children. Get an apple- 

 tree; make a pet of it; study its habits and 

 ways; and if it does not pour out a golden 

 harvest for yourself and children (and (/rond- 

 children) ,then it will be the exception and 

 not the rule. 



Last evening I was very hungry. I had 

 been working hard all day, directing and as- 

 sisting the road-makers in the work of grad- 

 ing in front of our home, preparatory to lay- 

 ing vitrified brick. On the table I noticed a 

 tempting- looking dish of baked apples. I 

 think they were prepared by Miss Carrie. 

 She is lately home from school, and is sup- 

 posed to know how to do almost every thing 

 in up-to-date style. Then we had some just 

 extra nice graham bread. I rather think 

 that Mrs. Root furnished the latter. For 

 some reason or other the butter seemed es- 

 pecially nice. When I have graham bread 

 and baked apples, somehow it seems as if a 

 pitcher of cold milk is just the thing to make 

 out a "balanced ration, " and I think I never 

 enjoyed a supper much more. Baked apples, 

 graham bread, and butter and cold milk, con- 

 stitute my ideal repast. 



When I began praising particularly the 

 baked apples, Mrs. Root remarked, "Why, 

 perhaps you have not noticed it, but there 

 is one variety of apple in our orchard that is 

 especially nice for baking in this way. Can 

 you tell what apple it is?" When I gave up 

 guessing she informed me it was the North- 

 ern Spy. I think the apples were quartered, 

 with the peel left on, and baked in the oven 

 so as to have the juice run out and make a 

 sort of sauce. Be careful not to put in too 

 much sugar. It not only spoils them for my 

 particular self, but I am sure it makes them 

 indigestible. Many dyspeptic persons, I am 

 sure, would be greatly benefited by cutting 

 off refined sugar. Put in sweet apples for 

 the sweetening, or use honey, the sweet that 

 nature prepares without going through any 

 factory. Now you want your graham bread 

 made just right, and nice butter; and be sure 

 to have a pitcher of nice cold milk. The cold 



