132 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 319. 



Apples at the Midwinter Fair. 



WHEN I was a boy on an old farm four miles from 

 the shore of San Francisco Bay the apples we grew 

 seemed perfect. We had many varieties, because my 

 father was always putting in grafts of new sorts. We 

 soon discovered, however, that few of the old standard 

 varieties did very well, and many of them very badly. 

 The Rambo was dull in color, mealy and dry in flavor. 

 Baldwins were often specked- and full of dry rot. The 

 sweet apples were less sweet, and the sour apples less 

 sour, so the old folks said, than the same kinds as they re- 

 membered them in New England. The best market sorts 

 we tried were Yellow Newtown Pippin, White Winter 

 Pearmain and Smith's Cider. Valley Farms like this have 

 for years produced nearly all the apples that reach the San 

 Francisco market. These large, juicy, but second-rate 

 apples have become known as "California apples." But 

 the products of the real apple country of the state were 

 hardly known, even in San Francisco, until recently, and 

 apple-growing in these hill-districts is likely to be as 

 important an industry as peach-growing at a lower alti- 

 tude. 



At the Midwinter Fair displays, in the various county 

 exhibits, the apples have ranked next in number and at- 

 tractiveness to the oranges. Horticulturists, noting these 

 collections, are beginning to say that perhaps there is more 

 money in the neglected apple than in any other fruit. 

 "Perhaps," they are saying, "perhaps we can grow these 

 great red mountain apples, fragrant, solid and perfect, and 

 compete in eastern markets with anything from Vermont 

 to the Ozarks." On March 15th I notice in perfect keeping 

 condition apples of the following varieties : Fall Pippin, 

 Rambo, Rome Beauty, Tulpehocken, Yellow Belleflower, 

 Rhode Island Greening. These, and many others that are 

 really but autumn apples on the lowlands, are February 

 and March apples when grown at elevations of from 1,500 

 to 3,000 feet. Judge, then, what firm and perfect speci- 

 mens of such apples as Lawver, Hoover, Ben Davis, Golden 

 Russet, Wagener, Grindstone, Virginia Greening, Northern 

 Spy, Esopus Spitzenberg and Yellow Newtowns are now in 

 the displays of these new apple districts. The color is so 

 much more brilliant in these mountain apples than in those 

 from the valley that it is often difficult to determine a va- 

 riety. In Ben Davis, for example, as grown at an eleva- 

 tion of 2,000 feet, the streaks are of purple, scarlet and gold. 

 Newtown Pippin in such localities often acquires a red 

 cheek on the sunny side of the tree. Baldwin is of a clear, 

 waxen transparency. Winesap is twice as large as the 

 Winesap of the valleys. 



The first Apples brought to California were of the varie- 

 ties most popular in the New England, middle and western 

 states in the forties. These were first disseminated in the 

 mountain towns ; next in those valley towns that traded 

 most with the mines ; lastly throughout newly developed 

 fruit-growing districts, chiefly in the lowlands. Shasta 

 City and Placerville, for instance, had small, though very 

 profitable, Apple-orchards, even earlier than Marysville or 

 Sacramento. Then large orchards were planted along the 

 river-bottoms early in the fifties, and one after another was 

 abandoned, as the channels tilled up and the water-table 

 rose, or as floods tore the soil away. In those days people 

 planted Roxbury Russet, Summer Pearmain, Early Harvest, 

 Strawberry, Minister, Maiden Blush, Beefsteak, Jersey Black, 

 Cayuga, Red Streak, Sweet Bough, Grindstone, Hubbards- 

 ton Nonsuch, New York Vandevere and forty or fifty other 

 sorts, all equally old-fashioned. Sometimes the)'' planted 

 seeds in distant mountain-camps, where grafted trees cost 

 five and ten dollars apiece. Oregon, less of a mining 

 country, early became famous for its apples, and for years 

 supplied the bulk of the San Francisco demands. In 1858 

 the fruit-growers used to send apples to San Francisco in 

 three grades, two sizes for picked apples, and " windfalls or 

 culls" for cooking. These last sold for a dollar a box of 

 forty pounds. Different varieties were seldom kept sepa- 



rate, or, if graded, other than by size, were divided into 

 "red apples" and "yellow apples." 



The display at the Midwinter Fair emphasizes in every 

 particular the revolution that has taken place in Apple- 

 culture. Nearly every one of the pioneer varieties has dis- 

 appeared from the tables of the leading Apple-growing 

 counties ; the best of the new southern and western Apples 

 have taken the place of the old favorites; the hardy Rus- 

 sians and " ironclads," so popular in Canada, Vermont and 

 Minnesota, are not represented ; there is no demand as yet 

 for very hardy varieties of any fruit in Calfornia. There 

 will not be any such demand until the settlers attack in 

 earnest the great Pine-regions of the Sierras, where the win- 

 ters are too severe for ordinary orchard fruits. The time is 

 close at hand, however, when there will be a demand in 

 portions of California for the hardiest varieties of not only 

 the Apple, but also of the Apricot, Plum, Pear and Grape. 



Apples are shown at the Fair from an old Mormon set- 

 tlement in Carson County, Nevada, that are remarkable in 

 their way. Here, on the east side of the Sierras, thirty 

 miles from the California line, at an altitude of about 3,500 

 feet, in a dry, cold climate, are very famous orchards, and 

 seedling Apples quite worthy of testing elsewhere. No 

 larger, better-colored, more highly flavored apples have 

 been on exhibition from any part of California or Oregon. 

 This Sage-brush Apple district is very extensive ; for two 

 hundred miles north along the eastern slope of the Sierras — 

 to Lassen, in fact — the pioneers often peddle bushels of 

 apples around among the villages, for a cent a pound — ■ 

 apples of the highest quality and free from spot or blemish. 



So varied and extensive have been the apple displays, 

 that even old Californians note with surprise how impor- 

 tant an industry was being neglected. The commercial 

 development of apple-culture on the same scale as that of 

 oranges and prunes, may be expected to date from the 

 Midwinter Fair, and nurserymen are preparing to meet the 

 demand. 



The most interesting feature of the exhibits, however, is 

 in the California seedling-apples, shown for the first time. 

 There has been no organized effort to secure them, and yet 

 about thirty new varieties have been sent in, all attractive, 

 and some ver) r promising, even when seen alongside such 

 standard varieties as Yellow Newtown Pippin, Ben Davis 

 and Hoover. The Experiment Station of the University of 

 California is securing cions of these new sorts for its orchards. 

 Indeed, it has been collecting Pacific coast seedling-fruits for 

 years, and will soon publish a catalogue that will be of 

 interest to fruit-growers everywhere. The University does 

 not sell cions or trees, but exchanges with other experiment 

 stations and with individuals in many parts of the world. 

 Niies, c.iiif. Charles H. Shinn. 



Exotic Trees and Shrubs for Florida Gardens. — V. 



VIBURNUM TINUS (Laurestinus) is a pretty evergreen 

 shrub from southern Europe. It grows luxuriantly 

 in a half-shady moist position. The ovate-oblong leaves 

 are somewhat hairy and of a dark green color. The 

 flowers appear in flat corymbs at the ends of the branches, 

 and are delicately scented. To make dense specimens, 

 pruning is necessary, and this should be done in early 

 spring. The Laurestinus under good culture attains a 

 height of from eight to twelve feet. In Florida it flowers 

 from November to March. It needs fertilizing and a heavy 

 mulching. V. odoratissimum, a native of China and the 

 Khasia Mountains, excels V. Tinus in beauty. The leaves 

 are large, elliptic, acute and glossy green. Its habit is 

 dense and very ornamental, and it reaches a height of ten 

 to fifteen feet. The flowers, which are white and sweet- 

 scented, appear in dense corymbs in May. The lower 

 branches rest on the ground if left to themselves. I have 

 never seen this shrub in the gardens of Florida, although 

 it is frequently seen in New Orleans and Mobile. Mr. J. P. 

 Berckmans writes me that it grows well in all parts of 

 Georgia and Florida. Under the name of V. Awafuki, I 



