THE GENESEE FARMER. 



157 



I doubt not but there is many a farmer who has 

 (as I once had) some corner, or spot more central, 

 upon which he never turns his eyes without feehng 

 •regret that his farm should be so disfigured by un- 

 sightly ponds or marstes, Avho might, in a very 

 short time, and with comparatively very little 

 labor, make it one of the most comely and profita- 

 ble sections of the farm. noble hill. 



Steuben Co., Jv. Y 



BEST FKUIT FOE MARKET PURPOSES. 



Eds, Gexesee Farmer : — I wish to say a word 

 about a premium article in your February number, 



f. 59, entitled "Best Fruit for Market Purposes." 

 have nothing to say against the sis varieties of 

 pears there recommended, but assuredly the apples 

 are icrong. 



In the first place, he who plants an orchard, 

 wishes to see and eat his fruit in something less 

 than twenty years, which he woiild not be likely 

 to do from an orchard of Northern Sjjys, which 

 Elliott says ''can not be considered a profitable 

 variety until the trees have acquired at least twenty 

 years of age, as it is very tardy in coming into 

 bearing."* The Newtown Pljypin., it is notorious, 

 is one of the most uncertam varieties, and not an 

 early bearer.t The Spitzenburg is only successful 

 in particular localities, and, even in those, a slow 

 grower and a shy bearer. The Roxhury Russet 

 succeeds nearly everywhere in the Eastern and 

 Middle States, and is very productive, but is only 

 ordinary in quality, and never brings a liigh price 

 in market.l The Rhode Island Greening is a good 

 apple, productive, and a tolerably early bearer, but, 

 in the opinion of some eminent pomologists, is 

 failing.§ And.^- what need of planting old and 

 failing varieties, when there are others that take 

 the market equally well, or better, that are young 

 and constant bearers, of thrifty habit and healthy 

 growth, and that for ^;'?"ice, head oflf even the best 

 S2)itzenhurghs. 



In the hope that I may deter some one from 

 planting Newtown Fi2'>pins and Northern Spys^ I 

 will give my list of varieties, and a reason or 

 reasons tlierefor; premising, however, that the 

 Baldioin and Red Astrachan are first class apples, 

 either for market or family use. I should name 

 for a list of six varieties, Wagner^ Baldwin., Winter 

 King (Tompkins county), Lowell., Astrachan, and 

 Gravenstein. The few Wagner and Winter King 

 apples that have been sent to market (New York), 

 have been taken readily at from $4 to $5 per barrel. 



* This opinion we believe to be erroneous and has gained 

 credence from Ihe fact that the Northei'ii Spy is such an upright, 

 compact grower that, in its early stages, (he wood and leaves are 

 80 crowded as efTectually to prevent fruit from forming. If 

 attention is paid to pruning and thinning out the branches judi- 

 ciousiy, so as to freely admit air and light into the head of the 

 tree, it proves an early and good bearer, 



l-Our correspondent will observe that the Netctotcn Pipphivfua 

 recommended only for such localities as it was adapted to, and in 

 Kich cases it is well known' to be a valuable and profitable sort. 



} As a market variety, the Roxlury Russet stands deservedly 

 high among orchardists, as its long-keeping qualities enable the 

 grower to sell it at a season when fruit is scarce and high. One 

 of the best fruit growers in this region — a man of much experi- 

 ence — told us he would select this sort as one, if he were confined 

 to two varieties. 



§ There is nothing in this. ids, 



They are most abundant and constant bearers, and 

 the Wagner is the most ])roductive bearer on young 

 trees of which I have any knowledge. I have seen 

 trees in the nursery rows, four years from tlie graft, 

 loaded with fair, handsome fruit. For early bearing, 

 the Baldwin stands next to the Wagner and the 

 Winter King is but two or three years behind, 

 whde it makes a better growth and finer head than 

 either of the others, and is equal to either of them 

 in productiveness. The Astrachan is well known, 

 and is admitted to be, all things considered, first on 

 the list of early apples. The Lowell is a first rate 

 apple for market. Elliott says of it: "The early 

 habit of productiveness, with the uniformly large, 

 fair fruit, will always command a place in orchards 

 where this variety is known." Tucker says of it, in 

 the Annual Register: " Valuable for its productive- 

 ness, — bearing when young — and for its uniformly 

 fair, handsome fruit." The Gravenstein is one of 

 our finest fall apples. It has proved fine in the 

 Middle and Eastern, as well as some of the Southern 

 States, and those who were not afraid of a few 

 foreign scions twenty-five or thirty years ago, are 

 now reaping their reward in an abundance of the 

 finest fruit, that will sell in Boston or New York 

 at |5 per barrel. It is a thrifty grower, and forms 

 an unusually fine head. It is very productive. 



I have named six varieties for market: it does 

 not follow that 1 would make use of them all in 

 planting an orchard for market. On the contrary, 

 in planting an orchard for market and for nothing 

 else, I would plant every tree of one variety, taking 

 either the Wagner, King, or Bahhcin. Wlio that 

 has marketed apples, does not know the advantages 

 of having a superior, uniform lot, — a lot that when 

 he has shown one barrel, he has shown the wiiole? 

 (Culling out all the unfair and small fruit, makes 

 much less difi:erence in the measure than one would 

 suppose who had never seen it tried.) It hai)pens, 

 however, that no orchard was ever planted for 

 market, and nothing else. A man can not do it. 

 Therefore, plant the beautiful Astrachan, and it 

 sliall gladden your eyes and palate, besides bringing 

 money to your pocket; the Gravenstein, wJiich 

 shall ripen as the Astrachan fades, and is superior 

 to it; and the Loioell, that you may see fair, ripe 

 fruit some three years after planting, as it is a very 

 early bearer. So sliall your heart be gladdened, 

 and your children, seeing no pleasanter spot than 

 the old orchard, no sweeter place than home, will 

 remain to cheer your old age; leaving junk and 

 corn-dodgers, ague and fevers, to those whosa 

 daddy has got no orchard, and are bound to "go 

 West." G. w. s. 



WelUloro, Pa., Feb. 15, ISCO. 



The Curoulio Remedt. — A recipe, reported to 

 be a remedy for the curculio — copied from the N. 

 Y. Olsei'ver — was published, at my request, in the 

 Genesee Farmer for May, 1S59, page 158. Persons 

 engaged in the culture of fruit were requested to 

 try it, and report the result. I gave it a fair trial, 

 and pronounce it a fiiilure— at least, so far as my 

 experience will justify an expression of opinion. 

 The curculio was frequently found on tlie trees in 

 the morning, after a thorough application of the 

 supposed remedy on the previous evening. Itwas 

 freely used on apricots, and all the fruit was lost. — 

 John Beadfield, Rochester^ N. Y. 



