ISO EXPERIMENT STATION. [Jan. 



which would seem reasonable, for Ben Davis died in 1852 at the 

 age of fiftj-six, or soon after the earliest date at which this tree 

 could have borne, and in this case he could not have been con- 

 cerned with the growth and distribution of the fruit, as it seems 

 beyond question that he was. The writer has attempted to 

 learn the facts about this, but thus far without success. 



It would seem possil)le that the apple originated in Tennessee, 

 as related by Mr. Hodges, and that the fruit, carried by the 

 drovers into Kentucky, came to the notice of the Kentucky Ben 

 Davis, who lived on the route wdiich would be traveled, and, be- 

 ing a nurseryman, he was attracted by the fruit and took steps 

 to secure scions, by which he propagated and disseminated the 

 variety. If this is true, however, it is hard to explain why the 

 ajiple was called the Virginia Pippin. 



Another possible explanation is that the apple may have 

 ^' originated " twice, or, to put it in another way, two varieties 

 appeared, one in Kentucky and the other in Tennessee, and both 

 were called the Ben Davis and resembled each other so closely 

 as to be confused ; or it is even jwssible that the two were dis- 

 tinct, and that one of them was not the Ben Davis we now know 

 at all. A third possibility is that it first aj)peared in Kentucky, 

 and that the Tennessee tree was a graft derived from it. 



That both the accounts are true in the main, at least, is not 

 doubted by the writer, and the Tennessee story is vouched for by 

 several j^eojde of prominence and reliability residing in that 

 neighborhood. It is likewise evident that the whole truth is not 

 set forth. 



Wherever the place of origin may have been, the variety was 

 first brought to public notice from Kentucky. The first pub- 

 lished notice of it seems to have been in the " Horticulturist " 

 for 1856, and Downing describes it in the " Fruits and Fruit 

 Trees of America," edition of 1857, as received from Mr. J. S. 

 Downer of Flkton, Ky. From this time on the mention of it in 

 pomological publications is frequent. At the time when Down- 

 ing described it it w^as s]iread over Kentucky, southern Indiana 

 and Illinois, and was known in IMissouri. It is stated by 

 I]/ekiel ITonsiugei" of Burut Prairie, 111., that his father 

 grafted the P>cn Davis in White C\)nuty, 111., about 1825, ob- 

 taining the scions from a neighbor, IMr. Fnnkhouser, and he 



