26 VARIETIES AND NURSERY STOCK 



ment at best to be rather discouraging, and should not be made 

 more so by deferred crops. It is certainly a point worth con- 

 sidering, whether one is to get a crop in five or six years as may 

 happen with Oldenburg or Wagener, or must wait ten or even 

 fifteen years, as frequently happens with the Northern Spy 

 (Pig. 6). 



3. Health and Vigor. Diseases are among the most serious 

 handicaps of the orchard. And there is frequently a very 



Fia. 6. Northern Spy apple. One of the finest varieties and, where it will grow well, 

 profitable sort. Its principal failing is that it is exceptionally slow coming into bearing. 



marked difference in the susceptibility of different varieties to 

 different diseases. If one is in a section where apple scab is espe- 

 cially troublesome, then it might be better to rule out Rhode 

 Island Greening and Mclntosh altogether, because they are 

 notoriously affected by that disease. But if fire blight is the 

 special enemy, then Mclntosh would be one of the best sorts to 

 set, since it seems to be particularly resistant to the blight. In 

 any case, whether one decides to set the variety under discussion 



