STATE POMOLOGICAL SOOIETl'. 45 



" Antonovka. — This is the lending apple of the Russian steppes, 

 the king apple of that vast prairie region from Tula to the south of 

 Kharkof, from Kozlof to Kiev, a vast prairie region unsurpassed in 

 fertility by any region on this continent. It is the leading apple 

 over a larger section of country than any other in Europe, than any 

 other apple I know of. No a[)ple holds so high a rank above others 

 in any large section of this continent ; and yet if the Baldwin were 

 equally hardy I would much prefer it." 



"At Kursk we still find it their leading market fruit, and on the 

 Bogdanoff estates, find it being planted in quantity as about the 

 best investment the proprietors know of. Such investments scatter 

 broadcast innumerable little dividends in the form of food and labor. 

 What a blessing to a country is a horticultural aristocracy — it ])egets 

 a horticultural peasantry, a home-loving, peace-loving, law-abiding 

 peasantry-. In Horticulture, we find the safest anchorage for a 

 peasant population." ***** 



"At Warsaw, where the climate is a cold North German rather 

 than a steppe climate, we find the Antonovka one of their leading 

 apples, but not their best, and there not a late keeper. * * * 

 In qualit}- it is not quite like an}- apple I know. It may, certainly, 

 be rated as second quality for eating and, I hope, first for cooking. 

 But few of the best commercial apples of this continent are of first 

 quality as dessert apples. ^ * * * * At Warsaw it rarely 

 keeps past Christmas. At Moscow, Mr. Shroeder cautiousl}' says, 

 till January or Fe]>ruary. In Central Russia it was often said till 

 March, and, I think, even April was mentioned. I doubt if it will 

 prove a much better keeper than our Faraeuse. 



How long an apple keeps depends very largelv upon how it is 

 kept. The Russians handle their fruit, pack it and keep it, with 

 more care than we do. They seem to look upon an apple as a 

 living thing, to be kept alive as long as possible. If allowed to 

 ripen on the tree it has a rich melon flavor but then it will not keep. 

 All apples in Russia picked for a distant market are picked rather 

 earlier than we should pick them. When we arrived at Saratof, on 

 September 11th, the apples were all picked and shipped to Moscow. 

 At Tula, on September 18th, Antonovka was in huge piles in the 

 orchards five feet wide, covered with basswood bark n)atting. At 

 Orel we find what has not been shipped in an open siied in layers 

 with straw between them." 



