18 HOME FRUIT GROWER 



cover the season for each of these fruits and also the whole season 

 of "small fruits." Fall-bearing varieties should be planted in 

 addition. Three sweet and three sour Cherry varieties early, mid 

 and late will perhaps answer similarly, though many people would 

 want four to six or even more kinds of Sweet Cherries. With Peaches 

 there should be one variety for each week from Midsummer to mid- 

 Fall say ten or twelve kinds. Pears, which begin to ripen with the 

 early Peaches, may be counted as averaging two weeks to a variety 

 for the early ones those that ripen before Thanksgiving Day and 

 a month or more for the later ones when properly handled. How 

 many? From August to November, inclusive, eight or ten; from 

 December to March, four. Apples ? Well, think of ten months of ripe 

 ones and the 197 ways of cooking and preserving them and draw the 

 line if you can! I should want one variety for each week from 

 Midsummer to mid- Autumn (ten or twelve), one for each two weeks 

 from then until Midwinter (six or eight), and one a month until late 

 Spring (three or four), a total of only about twenty varieties of Apples. 



Among the numerous varieties of fruits several thousand in 

 the cases of Apples and Strawberries, hundreds of Grapes, Peaches, 

 Plums, etc. grown in America, those characterized in the lists which 

 follow are specially desirable for family plantations, most of them 

 because of their dessert qualities, many for their culinary attributes and 

 some for "general purposes"; that is, both dessert and cooking. 



The names used are for the most part those officially recognized 

 by the American Pomological Society. In some instances these names 

 differ from the popular name, which, however, is almost always evident. 

 For instance, "Greening" is a term loosely applied to several score 

 of green Apple varieties which vary greatly in form, color, and especially 

 flavor. Some of these are worthless when compared with Rhode 

 Island, which is the best-known green Apple and the one everyone 

 really seeks when he buys "Greenings" in the market. 



POLLINATION 



In old-time family orchards when a Pear or a Plum tree or a Grape 

 vine bloomed profusely but failed to set fruit, the cause was believed to 

 be unfavorable weather, especially cold and rain, during or immediately 

 following blossoming time. Unquestionably this is one of the most 

 common reasons why little or no fruit is borne in certain seasons, so 

 except as modern methods may prove effective in preventing injuries 

 due to cold and even frost the failures are unavoidable. 



There are, however, other causes of failure rarely observed in 

 family orchards but important enough even there to be considered. 



