THE VARIETIES OF APPLE 67 



the nurserymen propagate. Here and there over the 

 country are still trees of the extra-quality but uncommer- 

 cial varieties known to a former generation. If the 

 amateur now wants to grow these varieties, he must find 

 cions as best he can by patient correspondence, and graft 

 them on his own trees. When I planted an orchard 

 twenty-five years ago, I found cions of Jefferis here, of 

 Dyer there, of Mother, Swaar and Chenango in other 

 places. 



In the enlarged edition of Downing's "Fruits and 

 Fruit-Trees of America," 1872, are descriptions of 1856 

 varieties, of which 1099 are American in origin, 585 for- 

 eign, 172 of origin unknown. The lists are not only 

 much smaller in these days, but the foreign element tends 

 to pass out. With the introduction of the Russian apples 

 for the cold North in the latter part of the past century, 

 the importation of foreign varieties practically ceased, 

 as it ceased also for the pears at an earlier date with the 

 introductions of Manning, Wilder and others. The epoch 

 of the "testing" of varieties passed away, and with it 

 has gone an appreciative attitude toward fruits and even 

 toward life that constitutes a sad lack in our day. 



About thirty years ago (1892) I compiled an inven- 

 tory of all the varieties of apple-trees sold in North 

 America, as listed in the ninety-five nurserymen's 

 catalogues that came to my hand. The inventory con- 

 tains 878 varieties. In the present year, however, per- 

 haps not more than 100 varieties are handled by nursery- 

 men in Eastern United States. Probably the dealer and 

 grower would consider even this small number much too 

 great. The highly developed standardized business of the 

 present day, aiming at quantity-production, naturally re- 



