NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



405 



THE PORTER APPLE. 



Tliis is one of the most popular apples in New 

 England. The original tree was raised by Rev. S. 

 Porter, Sherburne, Mass. 



The fruit is large and very fair ; oblong, and nar- 

 rowing rapidly to the ej-e ; skin smooth, glossy, 

 Dright yellow, with a dull blush full in the sun ; 

 etem tolerably long, medial size, in a deep cavity ; 

 calyx large, open, iu a rather narrow basin ; flesh 

 yellowish, tolerably fine, juicy, of a rich, sprightly, 

 subacid flavor. This apple, all things considered, 

 is one of the best for the market. It is excellent for 

 cooking, and some regard it as first rate for the table ; 

 but others consider it rather too acid, and of rather 

 too hard pulp to rank with our very best apples for 

 th:! dessert. In this region, it is in use from the 1st 

 ol" September to the ipth of October. 



The tree of the Porter is a moderate grower, or 

 rather less than medial in the nursery ; but as a 

 •tandard, it grows well, and forms a large tree. It is 

 rery productive, and yields the principal pait of its 

 fruit in alternate (even) years. 



In this region, the Porter apple is in use at a season 

 when many other good apples are iii the market, and 

 ■when the principal pears and plums are ripe ; also in 

 the great season for peaches ; therefore the sale of 



this fruit, in years of plenty, (even,) is rather dull. 

 Cultivated farther north, where it flourishes well, it 

 will ripen for this market in October, when it will 

 bear a higher price than in September, as transient 

 fruits are much scarcer in the former month. We 

 have known the Porter apple to sell for one dollar 

 per barrel in September, and for five dollars per bar- 

 rel earlv in October. 



POTATO ROT. 



The potato rot seems, like the cholera, to be pass- 

 ing away from Europe and America. On this con- 

 tinent, in Nova Scotia, where it first appeared, there 

 is little or none of it the present year ; and the pota- 

 toes from that region come now as they did formerly, 

 — excellent beyond those of all other countries. In 

 the United States, a very little complaint is made, 

 nearly all the destruction being confined to tile fields 

 before digging, and nothing of it found after the po- 

 tatoes had been harvested a week or two. — Ncio- 

 burijport Herald. 



The potato dealers in our city inform us, that their 

 experience is the reverse of this ; that they are 

 obliged to pick over the potatoes raised iu this quar- 

 ter, and to lose many, on account of " the dry rot ; " 

 that the Maine potatoes are least affected ; and that 



