100 THE NEW HORTICULTURE. 



is plain that the great diversity of opinion concerning the 

 quality of this apple can be accounted for only on the hypoth- 

 eses of sod and cultivation ; the latter producing the inferior 

 type of apple which largely predominates in the markets, for 

 the reason that a large majority of the orchards are butchered 

 at least once or twice a year, or oftener. That this theory is 

 true, was also proved by the cultivated .Terry apples sent me 

 from Georgia, to which allusion has been made, the quality 

 of which was little better than Ben Davis, the flesh being dry, 

 spongy and insipid, entirely unlike my sod Terry, which are 

 now, more than two months later, still firm, crisp and of the 

 highest quality. How else shall we account for so marked a 

 difference in the same variety, similar instances of which are 

 often mentioned in fruit journals ? A still further proof of 

 the degradation of fruit by cultivation came to-day in Charles 

 Green's Rochester catalogue for 1906, in which he advertises 

 a new type of Baldwin apple for sale, as follows : 



"At the rear of Charles A. Green's (Rochester, N. Y.) dwelling 

 stood a thirty-year-old apple tree, which in every way appeared to be 

 a Baldwin. The apples were placed in the cellar, and the following 

 March we were surprised to find them of a far brighter and better 

 color than Baldwin. The red blush and streaks were brighter and 

 the yellow portions more like gold than Baldwin. On eating these 

 apples, we found the quality was far better than Baldwin. We can- 

 not recall a more tender-fleshed or better-flavored apple. In quality 

 and beauty it is far superior ; in fact, a better strain of Baldwin. Prof. 

 L. H. Bailey says that trees of certain varieties bear better fruit than 

 others, and that by grafting from these peculiar trees we may greatly 

 improve well-known kinds. This is just what we have done. CHARLES 

 A. GREEN." 



And thereby Mr. Green will get his "foot in it ;" for the 

 people who buy those trees and cultivate them will find that 

 they have the same old Baldwin of to-day, and will come back on 

 him for selling them improved Baldwins at forty cents a tree, 

 when he asks only fifteen cents for the old style. Both he 

 and Prof. Bailey are ignorant of the fact that the destruction 

 of the surface-roots by cultivation not only deteriorates the 

 quality and changes the physical characteristics of many 

 fruits, but is the sole cause of the so-called "running out" 

 of strawberries and potatoes, as well. One has only to look 



