84 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



March, 1910 



Chenango, oblong form, recalling the old Sheep- 

 nose , agood apple for the home , ripening successively 



assuming a round-headed habit. It is 

 reasonably vigorous and not especially 

 afflicted with fungous enemies. The very 

 characters which disqualify this for commer- 

 cial uses give it distinctive value for the 

 home garden and the special market grower. 

 Critics say it ripens unevenly. This is true, 

 but when planted for home use a tree which 

 does not ripen all its fruit in the same week 

 is of greater advantage to the small gar- 

 dener than the one which brings every 

 specimen to maturity at the same moment 

 and exactly on time. 



The fruit is small to medium. Who can 

 mention an apple of the largest size of high 

 quality? If this variety lacks uniformity 

 in ripening it makes it up in size and shape. 

 This oblate roundishness is covered with a 

 dull red, laid on in splashes and stripes, 

 warmed up with bright carmine. Like the 

 Early Joe, the core is small and the cells 

 open. The flesh is almost white, of firm, 

 fine, crisp yet tender texture. Its juiciness 

 is a striking feature, while its mild aromatic 

 qualities never fail to please. Jefferis is 

 eatable in September; it may be kept until 

 January without difficulty and in good con- 

 dition. It may be set down as an unappre- 

 ciated variety, but one which the grower 

 will make no mistake in planting for home 

 use or for a discriminating market. 



Primate. — This is regarded as the king 

 of autumn apples with housewives in cen- 

 tral and western New York. It is one of 

 the few varieties honored by having a tablet 

 erected to commemorate the place of its 

 birth. One of the public-spirited townsmen 

 of Syracuse, Mr. John T. Roberts, some 

 years ago, becoming convinced that it had 



Chenango, of more rounded form, grown on clay 



its origin in a certain place in the town- 

 ship of Camillus, Onondaga County, was 

 instrumental in placing upon the spot a 

 bronze tablet bearing the following inscrip- 

 tion: "On this farm Calvin D. Bingham, 

 about 1840, produced the marvelous Primate 

 Apple, named by Charles P. Cowles. God's 

 earth is full of love to man." 



The tree is moderately vigorous, of round- 

 ish form, fairly hardy. Fruit is of medium 

 size, of rather unattractive whitish yellow 

 color, occasionally bearing a slight blush, 

 but never striped. The flesh is almost white, 

 very fine-textured, very tender and juicy, and 

 sprightly sub-acid, with pleasant aroma. 

 In the region of its birth-place this variety 

 is in season during August and September. 

 Like Jefferis and Chenango (which follows), 

 the fruit ripens unevenly and should be 

 picked successively. Beach, in "The Ap- 

 ples of New York," says that it is "moder- 

 ately long-lived and reliably productive." 



If one grows Chenango, it is probable that 

 Primate may be dispensed with, but those 

 who have grown it usually become so much 

 attached to it that they are very loath to be 

 convinced that there are other varieties of 

 this season better or even as good. 



Livland Raspberry. — Here we meet an 

 out-and-out foreigner. It came to this coun- 

 try in 1870 with a large batch of immigrants 

 entrusted to the care of the United States 

 Department of Agriculture by the Director 

 of the Imperial Botanical Gardens of St. 

 Petersburg. The consignment proved to 

 be a motley one, indeed, and among many 

 scores of blanks Livland Raspberry proved 

 to be a prize. Though it came to this 

 country from Russia, it bears the German 

 name, Himbeerapfel, and the probability 

 is that Silesia or Poland was its place of 

 birth. In common with the great majority 

 of reputed Russian apples as grown in this 

 country, it matures early; in fact, among the 

 very first of the summer crop. 



The tree is a round-topped, vigorous 

 grower, quite hardy as far north as the valley 

 of the St. Lawrence in Quebec, and is grown 

 successfully in northern Ontario. 



The fruit is very handsome — one of the 

 handsomest summer apples I know — and 

 for an extremely early apple, really worth 

 while. I believe it will replace Red June and 

 Early Harvest when better known, especially 

 in sections where summer apple culture is 

 a profitable industry. The apple is of 

 medium size, of regular, roundish form, with 

 smooth, tough skin, beautifully covered with 

 bright red shading into crimson, thickly 

 veiled with lilac-colored bloom. Its flesh 

 is sparkling white, often tinged with red 

 near the skin, very tender, melting, with a 

 pleasant, mild, sub-acid flavor. Livland 

 Raspberry, coming almost as early as that 

 earliest of apples, Yellow Transparent, and 

 very much better for eating, though not quite 

 as good for cooking, is well worthy of culti- 

 vation in the home garden, and is an apple 

 also to .be carefully tested for commercial 

 purposes on a large scale. Like most 

 early summer apples, the flesh being tender, 

 it is not adapted for handling in large pack- 

 ages. It is eminently a small package variety, 



and when placed upon the markets in this 

 way it will make a very attractive showing. 



Chenango. — This is more often called 

 Chenango Strawberry. Its name naturally 

 associates it with Chenango County, New 

 York, but Madison County offers strong evi- 

 dence of being its birthplace. It is a rela- 

 tively new variety, having been in cultiva- 

 tion but little more than half a century. 

 The personal characteristics of Chenango 

 are exceedingly interesting. 



The tree is characterized by short, stout, 

 sturdy branches, and by a vigorous, upright 

 type of growth. The tree is not one of the 

 largest, yet it attains a very fair size. The 

 fruit is peculiar in form in that it suggests the 

 old sheepnose variety, but is not so pro- 

 nounced in its oblong conicality as that old 

 door-yard favorite. In addition to its conical 

 and oblong form it is often marked with 

 pronounced ridges. The color is a clear 

 yellow ground, overlaid with . lively red in 

 long stripes and occasional blotches. The 

 skin is peculiarly smooth, not oily, but sug- 



Jefferis, a high quality apple worthy of wider culti- 

 vation. Ripens unevenly. Very regular in form 



gesting rather a highly polished surface. 

 The flesh is white, tender, yet crisp and 

 juicy, and one of its distinguishing char- 

 acteristics is the notable aroma and aromatic 

 qualities which become very pronounced 

 in eating a specimen. 



Chenango, like Jefferis, ripens its crop 

 successively, continuing through September 

 in central New York. It would be much 

 more highly appreciated, if it did not happen 

 to compete with the Crawford group of 

 peaches. Chenango is a little too mild 

 in flavor to make the best quality of apple 

 sauce. It is essentially a table dessert apple. 



Plant on strong, sandy loam, prune to an 

 open head, in order to permit the admission 

 of sunlight and feed liberally; if planted 

 on the heavier grades of sandy loam, hand- 

 some fruit should be the annual reward. 



Fameuse. — In New York and Michigan 

 one hears of the Snow Apple; in the Lake 

 Champlain district the Fameuse is spoken 

 of; and in the Province of Quebec the habi- 

 tant speaks of La Fameuse, La Belle Fam- 

 euse, and occasionally Pomme de Niege. 

 They are one and the same! 



This is by all odds the most widely known 

 of Canadian apples. Its range of proper 

 adaptation, however, is much narrower 



