1863, 



NEW ENGLAND FARRIER. 



17» 



/"fir the Neic England Farmer. 

 ABOUT APPLES.— No 1. 



The apple surpasses in value every, if not all 

 other fruits in our climate. In some parts of the 

 earth, the date, the »;:rape and the banana occupy 

 a ])luce perhaps more important than the apple oc- 

 cupies among us. In the United States, the ap- 

 ple thrives much the best north of 36" 30'. 

 South of that line there are few good apples. 

 They are generally small in size, and of inferior 

 quality. Apples evidently affect a free soil. 

 Good varieties do not venture into the dominions 

 of King Cotton. They refuse to compete with the 

 orange and the fig. 



Good varieties are almost unlimited in number, 

 and are constantly increasing. Under skilful cul- 

 tivation, it is not impossible that good varieties 

 may be produced that will succeed throughout the 

 wide range of climate found on this continent. 

 Good apples as the Northern Spy, Bailey's Spice, 

 and others are now jiroduced in Northern Ver- 

 mont and in Canada. Good varieties are being 

 produced in Missouri and in Western Texas. 



My belief is that the method now pursued, of 

 transjiorting trees to a great distance from the cli- 

 mate in which they are raised, will not be found 

 the best method of propagating durable and fruit- 

 ful trees. I think the stocks should be grown in 

 the soil, or at least, in the climate in which they 

 are to remain. Grafts may be transported and 

 inserted into the growing stocks with better hope 

 of final success. 



Perha])s no fruit is more depemient upon cli- 

 mate and soil for its qualities, than the ap])le. A 

 good Northern variety that requires to be kept 1 

 three or tour months to mature its juices, and , 

 then has a fine, rich flavor, carried to the sunny 

 South, becomes mellow as soon as it is grown, 

 loses its rich flavor, and becomes flat and insipid. 

 Two Baldwin trees, one growing upon a clay soil, | 

 and the other upon a warm, sandy loam, will yield ' 

 very different apples. Cultivation has not only i 

 multiplied the varieties of apples, but has greatly I 

 improved their qualities, and wonderfully in- , 

 creased their size. i 



There is an old fable in which an idle person | 

 lying under an oak tree, is rej)resented as finding i 

 fault with the arrangements of nature. He did 

 not think it right that pumpkins should grow ! 

 upon a vine creeping on the ground, while the 

 sturdy oak should produce fruit no larger than an 

 acorn. Just as he had arrived at this sage conclu- 

 sion, a falling acorn struck him upon the head, j 

 The question immediately occurred to him, ifj 

 pumpkins grew on oaks, what would now be the 

 condition of my head ? Oa looking at some of 

 the specimens of apples exhibited at our anmial 

 fairs, the question very naturally presents itself, 

 whether the danger Avould be greater to one re- 

 posing under the shade of an apple tree, if it pro- 

 duced pumpkins, for certainly some of the large 

 apples are equal in size to small pumpkins. 



Bv the past generation, the quantity of apples 

 was more regarded than the quality. A large por- 

 tion of the apples then raised was made into ci- 

 der. They were much less vakied as food for 

 either men or beast. The present generation has 

 learned that the apple is a valuable article of food, 

 and this has led men to seek the best varieties 

 and to improve them by cultivation. Immense 

 quantities are now raised for the market, and only 



good varieties are in demand, so that cultivators 

 are stimulated by interest, as well as by taste, to 

 improve the qualities of the apples they raise. 

 The number of ap])le trees, within twenty years, 

 has increased in the country l)y thousands and 

 millions. In 1855, the value'of apples in Massa- 

 chusetts was reported at about .Sl,300,0(M). Since 

 that period, the number of trees that have come 

 into bearing have greatly increa.sed their value, 

 and the crop of apples now cannot be much less 

 than $1,600,000. Since the use of steam has 

 shortened the time occupied in voyages, apples 

 may be transported with safety to distant places. 

 They have consequently become an article of com- 

 merce. They are carried to several ports in Eu- 

 rope, particularly London. They are carried to 

 the West Indies, and to the Northern ports of the 

 United States, at all which places they command 

 high prices. 



The clear atmosphere and hot sun of our au- 

 tumns, produce apples much superior in flavor to 

 those grown in the cloudy atmosphere and moist 

 climate of England. The same climatic influen- 

 ces render the corn crop of this country much 

 better than that of England. Indeed, the same 

 conditions of soil and climate that favor the growth 

 of Indian corn, are favorable also to the growth 

 of apples. Apples have been known from the 

 earliest period to which history extends. I am 

 not prepared to defend the proposition that it was 

 an apple of which Adam and Eve partook in 

 the garden of Eden, although Milton has given to 

 it the sanction of his great name. But they were 

 among the earliest fruits of which we have any 

 knowledge. They were cultivated in the gardens 

 of Damascus, and their praises were sung by the 

 Oriental poets. They gave the name of Elmata- 

 ghi, the apple mountain, to Mount Adorcus in Ga- 

 lalia. In an Epithalamium, or poem upon the oc- 

 casion of the marriage of an Eastern Prince, 

 that has come down to us, the bridegroom is made 

 to compare the breath of the bride to the aroma 

 of apples. They were cultivated in Greece and It- 

 aly. They have been handed down to us with the 

 grape and the peach. In our climate they have 

 found a habitat peculiarly fitted to them, where 

 they can develo]) all their good qualities in a high- 

 er degree of ])erfection than they have anywhere 

 else. No ap]des are so highly esteemed in Europe 

 as American apples. A soil containing both lime 

 and potash is necessary to the perfection of the 

 apple. They grow large and fair in limestone 

 soils ; but the inferiority of their flavor betrays 

 the want of jjotash. Both these alkalies are found 

 in a granite soil. 



The Beet as a Forage Ciior. — No farmer 

 who desires to experiment in the production of the 

 sugar beet should be deterred from it by the fact 

 that there is no immediate market for it. For al- 

 though the fiacilities for manufacturing will proba- 

 bly keep pace with its production, yet if they do 

 not, no better forage crop can be grown. It will 

 be as eagerly sought for and relished by stock as 

 the sweet, green sorghum. 



The course of a true woman is that of the gen- 

 tle streams, which, without cataracts or noise, 

 come softly down from their secret fountains in 

 the hilN, and indicate their presence only by the 

 deeper verdure of the meadows they water and 

 the sweet flowers that fringe their borders. 



