Varieties of Apples 455 



qualities, appearance and market demand should not ma- 

 terially affect the selection of varieties for a strictly home 

 orchard. Very often apples which conform to commer- 

 cial standards are inferior in quality to certain sorts which 

 may be grown at home. Suitable varieties for the home 

 orchard are very often too tender to ship or are too irregu- 

 lar in their bearing habits to prove profitable in a com- 

 mercial way. 



Varieties most valuable for home use are seldom listed 

 by many nurserymen, while commercial varieties not at all 

 adaptable for the home orchard are often given as suitable. 

 Nursery catalogue descriptions of varieties are not only 

 meagre, but are too general in many ways and at times 

 are misleading. Such descriptions as " fine quality," 

 " very productive " and " excellent for the orchard " have 

 been applied to practically every apple offered by nursery- 

 men. This criticism, of course, does not apply to all 

 catalogues, but one has only to read over the list of varieties 

 offered by several nurseries selected at random to see how 

 widely descriptions differ and to note the number of odd 

 and practically untried varieties listed. A great number 

 of new and odd varieties offered by nurserymen are much 

 inferior in quality to standard sorts. 



To name the varieties suitable for home orchard pur- 

 poses would entail a very large list, if seasonable demands 

 and also varying soil and climatic conditions were con- 

 sidered. Among the commercial varieties suited to home 

 orchard use generally throughout the Xorth and central 

 states are Northern Spy, Mclntosh, Fameuse, Baldwin, 

 Grimes, Gravenstein, Tompkins King, Esopus (Spitzen- 

 burg), Delicious, Stayman, Yellow Newtown, Oldenburg 

 (Duchess), Winter Banana and Rhode Island Greening. 



