16 



Avoid too many varieties. Faw and not many should 

 be the motto of the fruit grower. Too many varieties ar» 

 found in our orchards, and a very large proportion of thewi 

 is unfit for foreign or any other market, I cannot too 

 strongly emphasize this point, which nas largely been the 

 cause of failn'.e in many places. It is not an uncommon 

 thing to see twenty or thirty varieties growing in one 

 oicharrt of perhaps not more ihan one hundred trees If 

 an orchard contains, say twenty varieties, each of which 

 has to be assorted two or three times, at the clo^^e of each 

 time several barrels will be left nnfiUed, which will have to 

 be filled with other sorts and sold at a disadvantage. If I 

 were planting one hundred acres of orchard I would not 

 plant more than six varieties at the outside. One of the 

 most successful orchardists of Annapolis County in one 

 year raised 500 barrels of Nonpareils, and. only 200 barrels 

 of other sorts. Instead of having a few trees of each sort 

 he would plant more Nonj)areils, or whatever variety stood 

 highest in the London market. Such is the true policy. 



Notwithstanding the fact that perhaps no two orchard- 

 ists could be found to agree exactly upon the question of 

 varieties, I take the liberty of naming a few which are 

 among the best, if not the very best, and which I believe 

 can be most profitably grown in many parts of eastern 

 Nova Scotia. For early varieties, Red Astrachan is 

 probably the most profitable, as the tree is extremely 

 hardj^ a rapid grower, and a heavy and annual bearer. It 

 is also a very popular apple in our local markets on account 

 of its color and strong acid flavor, often bringing from 

 three to four dollars per barrel. If kept, however, it soon 

 loses its flavor, and on this account may soon lose some of 

 its popularity. Season, first of August. 



The Dutchess of Oldenburg, another apple of Russian 

 origin, and like the Astrachan, a hardy and rapid grower, 

 and an early and heavy cropper, but of better quality. It 

 comes in season in September, when the markets are apt to 

 be glutted with all sorts of fall apples, and on this account 

 does not sell so readily as the Astrachan. but it will often 

 prove a valuable substitute for the Gravenstein in places 

 where the latter cannot be grown, as its extreme hardiness 

 will enable it to do well along the cold northern shores 

 where other varieties utterly fail. 



Next, I would name the Gravenstein, which I have 

 mentioned before as having better keeping qualities when 

 grown here than in the Annapolis valley. It has been 

 called the king of Nova Scotia apples, and indeed it has no 



