17 



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fruit is large, sometimes very larf^e, yellowish, oblong, somewhat 

 conic, acid or sub-acid with slight sweetness, rather coarse in 

 texture. When left upon the tree tiil fullv r.pe it is said to have 

 a fine melon flavor, but then it ceases to bo a long keeper. In 

 quality it is not quite like any 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. Its great fault is its color, 

 though this does not prevent its being in active demand in all the 

 Russian markets ; it is the color to show bruises, yet >. has the 

 name of being a good shipping apple. At Warsaw it rit.ely keeps 

 past Christmas. At Moscow, Mr. Shroeder cautiously says, till 

 January or February. In Central Russia it was often said till 

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

 it will prove a much better keeper than our Fameuse. 



How long an apple keeps depends very largely 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 nth, the apples were all picked and 

 shipped to Moscow. At Tula, on September i8th, Antonovka 

 was in huge piles in the orchards five feet wide, covered with 

 basswood bark matting. At Orel we find what has not been 

 shipped in an open shed in layers with straw between them. 



This tree, on account of its good name and its good 

 growth in nursery, is sure to become largely planted in this 

 country. Its success will depend partly upon its suitability to our 

 soil, but, and mainly, perhaps to the length of time it keeps under 

 our method of picking, packing and shipping. 



Has the Antonovka run into varieties like so many other 

 apples by seedling production } The answer to this question 

 was usually in the negative, yet with one or two exceptions, and 

 at Tula, an apple was shown to us as the Doukavoya which 



