170 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



No^rEMBER, 1910 



The Jonathan Is of medium size and of a clear, 

 briglit red. Crisp and juicy 



bloom is remarkably heavy and beautiful. 

 No other variety, except one or two of the 

 crabapples, produces such a heavy coat 

 of bloom. The flesh is yellow, moderately 

 juicy, firm, meaty, and of a delicious sub- 

 acid, pear-like flavor — an apple sugges- 

 tive of richness and high quality, which 

 one appreciates in midwinter. 



The tree needs high culture. It should 

 be sprayed thoroughly to prevent scab, 

 and fed liberally to encourage productive- 

 ness, which it often lacks. As the trees 

 grow older they should be pruned vigor- 

 ously during the dormant season to stimu- 

 late growth and to renew fruit spurs. 

 The fruit loses moisture readily — it is 

 like the russets in this respect — and 

 should be kept in tight, paper-lined boxes 

 or barrels in reasonably damp storage. 



YELLOW NEWTOWN 



From the standpoint of length of life 

 and early associations this is at once the 

 most venerable and eminent member of 

 the American apple family. It is the 

 variety, with which Benjamin Franklin 

 may be said to have inaugurated the 

 export of American apples to Britain — . 

 a trade which has since grown to such 

 enormous proportions. It was the first 

 American apple to attract the attention 

 of the British grower as well as the British 

 consumer. Numerous attempts have been 

 made to cultivate it in England, but 

 these have been more or less uniformly 

 unsuccessful, except in the warmer regions 

 and on rich limestone soils. The summer 

 season in Britain is too cool to bring this 

 variety to a state of satisfactory maturity. 



Pomological history assigns the place 

 of origin of the Newtown to the village 

 of this name on Long Island — where 

 the original tree is reputed to have stood 

 as late as the first decade of the nineteenth 

 century, when it appears to have been 

 killed by much pruning in the removal 

 of wood for propagating purposes. It 

 is proper to state that there are two New- 

 town Pippins, the Yellow and the Green. 

 The former, however, is much more widely 

 grown than the latter, and the Green is 

 often confused with another variety with 



Newtown characteristics and Pennsyl- 

 vania origin, known as the Swaar. In 

 Virginia, Yellow Newtown has been in 

 cultivation so long that Virginians look 

 upon it as an indigenous kind and have 

 emphasized that view by giving it a local 

 name, Albemarle Pippin, from the county 

 in which it is extensively cultivated. So 

 freely is Yellow Newtown grown in that 

 county, and so regularly has it been 

 exported from thence to the British mar- 

 kets, that it is customarily listed in the 

 reports of the commission merchants of 

 London and Liverpool and other English 

 cities alongside of Yellow Newtown, but 

 under the name of Albermarle Pippin. 

 I fancy the name itself sounds good to 

 English ears. It has the proper twang, 

 and that alone will materially aid in its 

 retention. 



The tree is moderately vigorous and 

 fairly erect, though the terminal shoots 

 take on a drooping tendency with age. 

 It is not what may be called an open- 

 headed tree. On the country it is rather 



The yellow Newton Pippin, as good for cooking as 

 for eating. Originated on Long Island 



dense. The question is often asked, should 

 the Newtown be top-worked in order to 

 increase its vigor? I hardly think it is 

 necessary to do this in general, although 

 where it makes a manifestly poor growth, 

 owing to soil conditions, it might be 

 desirable tO' do this. It is distinctly a 

 winter variety, one of the best keepers 

 in the entire group of midwinter sorts. 

 Another good point about the Newtown 

 is that; unlike most winter varieties, it 

 bears reasonably early in life. Of course 

 the fact that it is a late winter variety 

 carries with it the incidental requirement 

 of plenty of summer heat to ripen it. A 

 bright, airy situation on warm, rich soil 

 in the northeastern part of the country 

 is an absolute requirement in order to 

 bring it to its highest development. It 

 is perhaps more particular in regard to 

 soil and climatic conditions than almost 

 any other variety and there appear to be 

 only a few places in the East where it 

 can be successfully grown. These are 

 the north side of Long Island, the elevated 

 regions of the lower Hudson, the Pied- 



mont section of ^, irginia, the foothills of 

 northern California, and the valleys of 

 northern Washington and southern Brit- 

 ish Columbia. 



The fruit of Newtown is not sold on its 

 looks. It is often comparatively unat- 

 tractive. It is of medium size as grown 

 in the East, often of good size when grown 

 under irrigation in the West, but is usually 

 slightly angular and ridged, and sometimes 

 quite lopsided. The skin is smooth but 

 not waxy; the color greenish yellow, 

 warming as it ripens to bright yellow with 

 a pink flush. The cavity is deep and the 

 calyx small, usually closed. The flesh of 

 Yellow Newtown is distinctive, being 

 yellowish and remarkably firm, with no 

 suggestion of toughness, but rather a crisp, 

 crackling character unlike almost any 

 other variety we have. It is fine-grained, 

 juicy, with a pleasant aroma which tends 

 to heighten its natural rich subacid 

 flavor. This variety is as good to cook 

 as it is to eat. In that respect it is also 

 somewhat unique. Newtown nearly al- 

 ways tops the market quotations in 

 London and Liverpool. 



GRIMES 



This is a variety which may be looked 

 upon as a sort of traveling mate of 

 Jonathan. It is in high repute in the 

 regions where Jonathan succeeds best. 

 It is not found to be satisfactory in the 

 cooler regions of New England and New 

 York, especially on the heavier soils, but 

 as grown on the bluffs of southern Illi- 

 nois, in the limestone region of southern 

 Indiana and the Blue Grass section of 

 Kentucky it attains high excellence and 

 handsome appearance. We hear of Grimes 

 also as being popular in the apple-growing 

 bench and valley lands of Colorado, but 

 it has not taken hold of the Pacific Slope 

 growers in the way that Jonathan, Wine- 

 sap, and Spitzenburg have. 



Grimes appears to have originated in 

 West Virginia, where it has been grown 

 for a century or more and from whence 

 it has gradually spread itself in local 

 areas over the country. 



Esopus. one of the most satisfying apples for eating. 

 Oblong in shape with yellow flesh 



