122 



THE POMOLOGIST. 



Sept. 



For tbe Western Pomolngist. 



" Crab Apples for the North." 



Since the settlement of the Northwest the 

 question of hardy varieties of the apple has 

 been one of absorbing interest to dwellers 

 in that region. One of your contemporary 

 horticultural editors has lately uttered liia 

 ipse dixit on that question. According to 

 this savan all trees that " annually mature 

 their wood growth " either naturally or by 

 artificial means will be found able to " resist 

 the most trying northern winter." His 

 words are : 



" What you need at the North is not crabs, 

 but such varieties of the best apples as 

 would mature their wood-growth early. If 

 we were a resident of 3'our^State, (Minneso- 

 ta) we should make the best selection we 

 could, cultivate the trees highly, and at the 

 same time force them to develop their ter- 

 mial buds at least six weeks before frost. 

 In this way we should feel sure of rendering 

 trees quite as hardy and fruitful as could be 

 desired " 



So important a discovery as this, it would 

 seem, ought to make quite a sensation in the 

 horticultural circles of the Northwest, were 

 it based upon sufficient facts to warrant gen 

 eral confidence in a consummation so devout 

 ly to be wished. But no facts are adduced. 

 Theories are cheap, but experience is costl}^ 

 assertions are easily made but without facts 

 to back them are worthless. 



Any variety that ripens its wood early is 

 undoubtedly prepared to withstand as great 

 a degree of cold as the natural hardiness of 

 that species will allow it to do. But not all 

 those kinds which ripeu their wood earliest 

 are found to be the hardiest. 



The Early Harvest ripens its wood much 

 earlier than the Ben Davis, yet it is by no 

 means as hardy a tree. The Transcendent 

 crab does not go to rest earlier than the 

 Domine, yet they liear no comparison^ as to 

 hardiness. These facts show that there is 

 an inherent constitutional difference in the 

 hardiness of varieties and of species, that 

 does not altogether depend upon the period 

 of ripening their growth. The fact that 

 young nursery trees at the South are often 

 destroyed when caught in an active state of 

 growth by early frosts, has doubtless led to 

 erroneous opinion among persons who have 

 never visited the extreme North, that late 

 growth was the sole cause of trees perishing 

 in winter at the North. But such is not the 

 sole cause. A climate where the mercury 

 sometimes actually freezes is too severe for the 

 endurance of any but the hardiest species of 

 fruits. If it were true that artificial limita- 

 tion of growth by root-pruning or otherwise, 

 could render our tender apples hard}% then 

 we might hope to grow the peach, the 

 qmnce, and the heart cherries at the north 

 by the same means, and -probably it can 

 be done with about the same degree of suc- 

 cess. All such mutilation is but a tempo- 

 rary check to growth at the best, an increased 

 stimulation is apt to ensue after the tree 

 has recovered from the first effects. It can 



only be practiced and kept up at an immense 

 cost, and am never be adopted by the mas- 

 ses. What the North needs is, not a system 

 of doctoring for diseased and tender trees, 

 which, if available, could only be applied by 

 the favored few, but varieties of the apple 

 that are specifically hardy enough to main- 

 tain health, vigor, and productiveness for 

 the million. This the Siberian apples will 

 do as far north as lake Superior, while but 

 few varieties of the common apple will do 

 so any where north of Chicago ; ani none 

 of them north of the latitude of St. Paul. 



To allege that any system of artificial 

 surgery, whether it be root-pruning, patent 

 'Rejuvenator,' or other panacea,can so.change 

 the constitutional habit of a variety as to 

 render it hardy beyond the natural limit of 

 its species, is quixotic in the extreme, not 

 to say downright humbuggerry. And yet 

 such is precisely the position of the author 

 of the article under view. A horticultural 

 hobby that one may ride at all seasons in 

 Egypt will never do to mount in Minnesota- 

 It will need " iron clad " shoes in that sec- 

 lion. 



A feeble attempt is made to deny the su- 

 perior hardiness of the improved Siberians, 

 affording a fine chance for a display of those 

 peculiar scientific allusions so characteristic 

 of schollars who ignore every authority 

 outside of themselves. A " shght change 

 wrought " in the amelioration of a hardy 

 species of fruit had " so enlarged the fruit 

 germs " as to render it one of the most ten- 

 der ! " _0 this learning ! what a thing It is.' 



This attempt to decry the improved 

 " crap apple for the North," is unique, being 

 the first published opinion from any source 

 of pretended authority, in opposition to 

 them. In the Northwest the Siberian crabs 

 have become a recognized necessity. In 

 northern New England they are equally 

 popular. Nearly every prominent horti- 

 culturist in the country, including Wilder, 

 Manning, Thomas, Downing, Elliott, War- 

 der, Sanders, and Fuller, have given them 

 their unqualified recommendation, not only 

 for the North, where they recognize their 

 superior adaption, but also as a valuable ad- 

 dition to the list of culinary, desert, and fancy 

 fruits for all sections. No voice has been 

 raised against this unanimous decision ex- 

 cept from one locality. This locality has 

 been, singularly enough, surnamed after 

 another region which once before attempted 

 to monopolize the fruits of the country in 

 order to supply their northern neighbors 

 with corn at their own price. We have a 

 class of orchardists located around the " corn 

 cribs " of our modern Egypt who appear to, 

 to be cursed with the same contemptible and 

 narrow spirit. It crops out occasionly in 

 efforts to ignore or abortive attempts at ridi- 

 cule, or with grave scientific advice to check 

 the rising popularity of the only class of 



fruits that can be grown in the extreme 

 North. 



We need be at no loss to divine the secret 

 of this opposition from that quarter. The 

 rapid multiplication of improved varieties 

 of the Siberian crab, the growing supply of 

 fruit and trees, and their evident value as 

 evinced by the increasing demand and the 

 prices paid for both, has alarmed a somewhat 

 numerous class of fruit growers who have 

 established themselves for the purpose of 

 amassing fortunes by the sale of fruit to the 

 Northwest, a region where they had pre- 

 dicted a perpetual famine of fruit. Not 

 Joseph's coat of many colors caused such 

 disquiet to his brethren as the hardy Sibe- 

 rian crabs have caused to these jealous 

 Egyptian fruit growers, who have looked 

 upon this great region as " the natural 

 market for the finer fruits grown further 

 south." The innocent younger brother who 

 dared to dream that the stars of plenty 

 bowed to him in the shape of tiny golden 

 apples, till the whole North was furnished 

 T.ith bending boughs, even as her heavens 

 are ablaze 'with the glowing Borealis, may 

 be cast into the pit by the strong men of his 

 tribe; yet the daj' may come when they in 

 turn will make a pilgrimage for fruit to the 

 district they now atiect to despise. 



Let us search a little further for the ani- 

 mus which prompts this persecution, which 

 includes not alone the Siberian crabs, but 

 aU that class of fruits commonly called the 

 " iron-clads," on account of their peculiar 

 hardiness for the North and West. Ad interim 

 committees have taken it upon them to pri- 

 vately persuade fruit culturists in northern 

 Illinois and Iowa that it was for the their 

 interest to discourage the cultivation of all 

 such fruits as the Morello cherries, the 

 native plums, the Ben Davis, and Dutchess 

 apples, and the Wilson strawberry. These 

 fruits they stigmatize " coarse, uuworty of 

 cultivation," and deride as the " lazy man's 

 fruits." Perhaps the pioneers of the 

 Northwest are lazier than our southern 

 neighbors, but it is certain that without these 

 fruits their pomology would be meager in- 

 deed. The motives of such advice can 

 hardly be mistaken, comingfrom the mouth- 

 pieces of this would-be monopoly. Se 1 

 fishuess so gross and gigantic, is almost too 

 serious to charge upon any class of men- 

 We charitaljly admit the larger share to be 

 unconscious, but on no other hypothesis 

 than self-interest can we account for the facts 

 above stated, which will be recognized as 

 true by hundreds who have heard the state- 

 ments quoted. 



The varieties of improved Siberian apples 

 are now so numerous that they are as wholly 

 moved from the charge of being puffed for 

 profit as any other class of fruits. They now 

 enter into the staple trade of all our first 

 class wholesale nurseries, east and west. 

 The history of the 'trasceudent crab, alone, 

 in the past fifteen years assures to the newer 

 varieties which present better qualities and 



