CHAPTER I 



'i 



Choosing Varieties 



Points to Consider Precocity Prolificacy Annual or 



Biennial Bearing Duration Number of Kinds 



Pollination 



f 



AS a man is judged by the company he keeps, so a fruit grower 

 is rated by the kind of fruit he grows. I therefore warn would- 

 be planters to avoid varieties of low quality, for "evil com- 

 munications corrupt good manners." As the family plantation is 

 an expression of the family taste my first ruling will always be against 

 Ben Davis Apple, Kieffer Pear, Elberta Peach, Lombard Plum, 

 Concord Grape and other varieties of their rank, because so many 

 kinds are superior to them in quality. Beautiful looking many of 

 them certainly are, much more attractive in appearance than many 

 of the really superlative varieties; but handsome is as handsome does. 

 Better disappoint the eye than deceive the palate! They are all 

 standard market varieties, so it is always easy to get them; for "the 

 poor are always with us." Besides, who wants to be always apologizing 

 either to his palate or to his friends for growing inferior fruit? I 

 would rather have my guest, as well as my family, eat to repletion 

 and then follow the receding fruit basket with their eyes, than have, 

 them leave even the small part of a cluster of Grapes on their plates 

 or surreptitiously drop a bitten but inedible fruit in the nearest 

 hedge. 



Like Eugene Field, the general public likes "any color, so long as 

 it's red." That is because most people "eat with their eyes." Yet 

 here again handsome is as handsome does ; some of the choicest varieties 

 have poorly colored skins. Prof. Bailey once characterized the Swaar 

 Apple as a "jaundiced looking thing," but I happen to know it is his 

 favorite Apple one of the very choicest. 



In making a choice of varieties for the limited space that a home 

 fruit plantation must occupy I would next discard other varieties 

 likely to be on sale in my local market. Next cut out cooking kinds 

 because substitutes for them can easily be purchased. So far as 

 Apples are concerned the balance of *the Winter varieties I would 

 next pass by for the same reason. Late Autumn varieties of Apples 

 would follow, so that I would gradually narrow down to Summer and 

 early Autumn Apple varieties and the more perishable high quality 

 fruits rarely offered for sale Strawberries, Raspberries, Blackberries, 

 Peaches, Plums, Cherries. Grapes and Pears for cold sections; Loquats, 



13 



