148 



THE POMOLOGIST. 



November 



A New Seedling Apple. 

 Mr. D. B. Clark, of Council Blufls, sends us n few seedlin" 



apples, aud wliicb are repre- 



sented by the accompai;«yiDg engraving, 

 calyx small, closed ; stem short, slender ; 

 .skin yellowish green with faint blush 

 on sunny side ; flesh greenish whit:.', 

 tender and moderately juicy, acid. We 

 find it an excellent cocking apple, and 

 it is not a bad eating apple from the 

 hand. In a note accompanying the 

 apples Mr. 0. says : 



"This seedling originated from seed 

 planted in 1855. The tree bore its first 

 crop in 186G— a foir crop in 1867, an 

 increased crop in 1868, and in 1869 about 

 ten bushels, and the present season 

 about seven bushels. Tree very hardy 

 'Iron Clad,' a moderate grower, stem 

 20J^ inches in circumference, one foot 

 from the ground, and is a total stranger to 

 the pruning knife. We esteem this apple 

 very highly for cooking. Season, late fall 

 and winter." 



Cavity deep, narrow, russeted, basin medium. 



"The Hawkins Chief. " Weight, 7 1-2 Ozs- 

 We have received from Mr. Lewis Martin, of Anoka, Minnesota, two seedling apples 



called "Hawkins Chief" and "Minnesota Prince," the first of which we illustrate: 

 Cavity shallow, 



narrow — exceeding- 

 ly so; stem short, 



very stout ; basin , 



broad, deep ; calyx 



medium, closed ; 



core small ; seeds 



large, plump, red- 

 dish brown ; skin 



uniform, clear, pale 



yellow ; clear of the 



slightest blush or 



tinge ; flesh rather 



coarse, brittle, acid ; 



a very good apple. 



Taking into account 



hardiness of the 



tree, size and fair 



quality of the fruit, 



the "Chief" may be classed with the most 



desirable sorts for Northern Minnesota. 

 The other specimen, " Minnesota Prince," 



is about the same size and weight, but not 



so good. Flesh white, tender, lacking in 



juice, and rather insipid. Concerning the 



origin of these two apples, Mr. Martin 



writes us ; 



" I send you by mail a specimen of the 

 " Hawkins Chief" and " Minnesota Prince " 

 apples. The trees were raised from seed 

 brought from Vermont, and planted by S. 

 Hawkins, nine years ago, in tlie towfi of 

 Maple Grove, Hennipen county, about thirty 

 miles north of St. Paul. The trees are per- 

 fectly hardy, very healthy, and vigorous 

 growers. These apples were on exhibition 

 at the late fair beld at Minneapolis, and were 

 warded the first premium." 



For the Western Pomologist. 



That Crab- Apple Question. 



Friend Miller.— It seems, from the 

 October number of the Pomologist, that I 

 have inadvertently "stirred up" a disciple 

 of Crabdom, by having the audaciiy to 

 intimate that the people of Council Blufl's 

 might just as well raise apples as crabs. 



I have found in mj' intercouse with mj- 

 fellow man, that people generally dislike, 

 extremely, to be told of their faults ; but I 

 had but little thought of any real live nur- 

 seryman (as I had taken Mr. Raymond to 

 be) attempting to advocate the general 

 planting of crabs, from which to produce a 

 supply of fruit. But Mr. R. says that they 

 grow almost spontaneously with him. True. 

 But what is the fruit after you have got it? 



Nothing hvi a crab-apple after all. I can 

 recollect some twenty-five years ago, when 

 our native crabs were eaten with a relish, 

 but when we got to raising fruit, they were 

 not thought fit to eat. But few are aware 

 of the vigilance, the trials, vexations, and 

 disappointments of the " old settlers " of this 

 part of the State in order to prove, as they 

 have, that fruit (not crabs) could be grown 

 successfully here ; and although the present 

 is the first reason of our entire failure of the 

 apple, we are far from being discouraged. — 

 As we are without fruit here, only as we 

 buy it, and as crab-raising is so remunera- 

 tive at the Bluffs, suppose Mr. R. tries 

 shipping us 100 bushels of his famous crabs, 

 and if they don't have to go begging to 

 fetch $1.00 per bushel, and then have more 

 than half of them kft on his hands, I will 

 paj' all the expense of the shipment. The 

 fact is, we know what fruit is here, and you 

 can't fool us with any of your crabs. I 

 would like to hear what Mr. Leonard of 

 Burlington says about Mr. R's crab story.-- 

 Do the good peojjle of B. buy crabs in any 

 quantity at " four dollars per bushel," when 

 good fruit can generally be bought at 50 to 

 75 cents ? This sounds a little like a " fish 

 story." 



In.stead of grumbling at me and calling 

 hard names, as " Egyptian," " Crabridiculer,' 

 etc., why don't Mr. R. try to explain away 

 the strange freak (?) of nature of his neigh- 

 bor, Mr. Sylvester, having plenty of apples, 

 and nice ones too, on a neglected orchard of 

 twenty 3'cars' standing? I. am afraid I 

 touched Mr. R.'s pocket, (which is generally 

 the tenderest part of a man) in speaking of 

 this crab business. 



" Cant raise anything but crabs at Council 

 Blufl's' ? Who believes it? How is it that 

 Mr. Adams, our worthy Secretary of the 

 State Horticultural Society, is able to raise 

 hundreds of bushels of apples, two degrees 

 north of the Blufls, aud was enabled to ex- 

 hibit some 70 varieties of splendid apples at 

 our State Fair? Some "/toci/spocus" about 

 it I reckon ! Now, Mr. Adams is a gentle- 

 man, and if you are not too independent to 

 learn, I doubt not but that if you will keep 

 on the " good side " of him, he will tell you 

 all about how you can raise apples at the 

 Blufls as successfully as you now do crabs. 



If the growing of crabs is a matter of such 

 great importance, why has our Horticul 

 tural Society never taken the matter in hand 

 and told us what varieties were best suited 

 for culinary, for dessert, and for market 

 purposes. I design planting several hun- 

 dred more fruit trees in the Spring, and if it 

 is decided that it is the most profitable to 

 plant crabs, Mr. R. would confer a favor on 

 me, and many others, by telling us what 

 varieties to plant, so that wo wont have to 

 " go it blind," you know. 



Ira Phillips. 



Keosauqua, Iowa. 



