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season is from November to February or March, and it is 

 at present and always will be a leader in Massachusetts or- 

 chards. 



Wagener. 

 This apple originated in New York and is not widely grown 

 in Massachusetts, but in some respects is a most promising 

 variety. The tree is of medium size, a good grower while it 

 is young, but slow as it gets older. It is remarkably early in 

 coming into bearing, sometimes producing apples at the third 

 or fourth year, and bears abundantly, at least biennially, 

 after that. The fruit is of good size, fine color and excellent 

 quality, though somewhat inclined to produce culls where 

 there are few apples on the trees. The season is November 

 to February. The special value of Wagener to orchardists is 

 the fact that it is a late-keeping apple and yet a small tree, 

 and is therefore adapted to use as a filler where that system 

 of growing is adopted. 



Gravenstein. 

 This variety, originated in Germany, was introduced into 

 the United States about 1825 and has been a very popular 

 variety in many sections. The tree is very vigorous, almost 

 too much so, making a large tree and tending to overgrow 

 and winter-kill as a result of late growth, unless soil conditions 

 and soil management are just right. It is rather slow in 

 coming into bearing, requiring about seven or eight years, and 

 is an uncertain cropper. In some sections it bears very abun- 

 dantly indeed and is extremely popular, and in others it is a 

 shy and uncertain bearer. The fruit is of high quality, hand^, 

 some in color, very popular in the market, and in sections 

 where the Gravenstein succeeds it stands close to the head of 

 the market varieties. Its season is September to November, 

 and barring the fact that the trees are apt to go bad through 

 winter-killing and other troubles, it would stand second or 

 third in many sections. This difficulty could doubtless be 

 overcome to some extent by setting other hardy varieties and 

 topworking Gravenstein on these. 



