March, 1910 



T H E G A R D E N M A G A Z I N E 



85 



than its reputation, and hence the reason for 

 some disappointment. Its intrinsic excel- 

 lence has been the means of extending its 

 culture outside of its natural habitat. 



It is essentially a northern variety. The 

 Upper St. Lawrence, the Lake Champlain 

 district, and the Northern Lake region of 

 Michigan furnish congenial conditions. 

 When grown in regions too cool for ripen- 

 ing dent corn, Famuese attains that quality 

 of crispness essential to the development 

 of its highest flavors. In dent corn regions 

 its keeping season is short and the flavor 

 wanting in briskness. In no section is it 

 a first-class cooking variety; if used for 

 this purpose, it should be taken while still 

 somewhat immature. 



La Belle Fameuse may be found prac- 

 tically in every region in the St. Lawrence 

 valley from Kingston to points far below 

 the Sauguenay River, in fact as far east 

 as apple growing prevails. 



A brilliant crimson (the characteristic of 

 the color of this apple) is sometimes laid on 



Fameuse, the most 'widely known of Canadian 

 apples suffers from being grown outside its region. 

 At home it is a first quality fruit 



in stripes and sometimes in heavily suffused 

 masses. So clearly differentiated are these 

 colors on different trees that people are 

 occasionally of the opinion that they repre- 

 sent different varieties. In central and 

 western New York we regard Fameuse as 

 a fall apple, but in .the district of Montreal 

 it is often marketed in March and April 

 from common storage. 



The tree does not attain large size. At 

 first it is round topped and compact, but 

 later in life it assumes a somewhat spreading 

 habit, rather dense withal. To offset this 

 density it should be pruned annually, thin- 

 ning the branches so that the sunlight may 

 be made available to all parts of the tree. 

 Fine, clean fruit of this variety is not easily 

 obtained, for it is subject to apple scab in its 

 most virulent form. Since the advent of 

 spraying the disease is less feared, though 

 in older Fameuse growing districts there 

 is always a considerable percentage of loss. 

 In soil requirements the variety is not so 

 particular as some others; but, neverthe- 

 less, it has a decided preference for a porous 

 gravel containing a high percentage of lime. 



This type of soil brings to perfection the 

 apple's natural and beautiful colors, and 

 when coupled with a northern latitude, its 

 delicious, crisp, yet melting qualities of flesh. 



As commonly grown in the regions of the 

 eastern townships of Quebec and the upper 

 St. Lawrence valley, there is but a small per- 

 centage of No. i fruit. The heavy bearing 

 proclivities of the tree, the susceptibility of 

 foliage and fruit to scab, coupled with faulty 

 pruning, all tend to reduce the grade of fancy 

 fruit, and increase the amount of small and 

 poorly colored specimens. The visitor to 

 the markets of St. Hyacinthe, Sorel, or Trois 

 Rivieres during the winter months will be 

 astonished at the marvelous assortment 

 in the way of qualities of La Belle Fameuse 

 laid out before him. He can buy samples 

 from the size of marbles covered with scab 

 fungus up to the normal and beautiful 2 \ inch 

 specimen, and this possibly from November 

 until April. 



For a number of years an apple grower of 

 the Montreal district. Mr. R. W. Shepherd, 

 has shipped a limited quantity of fancy 

 Fameuse to a personal market in England. 

 The package used is a box holding about one 

 hundred specimens, constructed on the egg- 

 case plan, each apple being wrapped and 

 having a compartment to itself. This suits 

 the soft-textured Fameuse admirably. 



This worthy apple has been grown for 

 nearly three hundred years in the Province 

 of Quebec and, as a natural result of wide- 

 spread cultivation of any variety, is now the 

 parent of a goodly progeny. The most 

 distinguished member of the family is the 

 Mcintosh. Others are: Shiawassee of Michi- 

 gan origin; Princess Louise and Scarlet 

 Pippin of the Ontario region. Besides these, 

 there are several of local repute in the vicin- 

 ity of Montreal. Growers in that region 

 are well acquainted with Fameuse Sucre, 

 Fameuse Noir, and Green Fameuse. 



McIntosh. — Were I the originator of 

 this apple, I would have reason to be a 

 proud man. Allen Mcintosh, the dis- 

 coverer and introducer of the apple of his 

 name, will, as the generations come and go, 

 be rightly regarded as one of the people's 

 benefactors. 



While there is no proof that Mcintosh is 

 derived from Fameuse stock, its likeness to 

 that variety and its general characteristics 

 are so unmistakable as to remove all 

 reasonable doubt from the question. 



When this variety is grown on clay soil 

 it is often slightly ribbed toward the cavity, 

 as shown in this illustration; but the nor- 

 mal Mcintosh is not ribbed. It is of medium 

 size, averaging somewhat larger than 

 Fameuse, regularly and unusually roundish 

 in outline. The skin is thin and tough. 

 The color of northern-grown specimens 

 shades from a livid or bright red to deep 

 purplish red, almost black, overspread with 

 a delicate lilac bloom. Who sinks his teeth 

 into a well-grown Mcintosh in prime con- 

 dition cannot fail to carry away a cherished 

 remembrance. Its white flesh, flaky and 

 melting, pleasantly sub-acid, and highly 

 aromatic, represents a gift of the gods indeed. 



Mcintosh originated along the Upper 



Mcintosh, of the Fameuse group extends over a 

 wider region. It should not be cooked 



St. Lawrence and its distribution was com- 

 menced by the introducer, Mr. Mcintosh, 

 on whose farm it appeared as a chance seed- 

 ling in 1870. The tree is hardy and vigor- 

 ous, a moderately early and practically 

 annual bearer. It succeeds over a wider 

 range of territory than its reputed parent. 

 One finds it growing from the Sauguenay 

 River in eastern Quebec to the valley of 

 the Fraser, and even on Vancouver Island 

 in British Columbia on the west. At the 

 National Apple Show in Spokane, in 1908, 

 a carload of this variety was exhibited by the 

 Bitter Root Valley Orchard Co., of Mon- 

 tana, grown at an elevation of some 3,000 

 feet and in a location where the thermometer 

 occasionally touches 40 degrees below zero. 

 In the colder regions of interior British 

 Columbia I found an orchard (an old one 

 for that region) some twenty years of age, 

 where most varieties had been killed by cold 

 and climatic difficulties; yet Mcintosh was 

 thriving and productive. In high latitudes it 

 is smaller in size and firmer in texture, 

 coupled with higher coloring than normal. 

 Mcintosh, like Fameuse, is a fancy apple, to 

 be sold in small packages, to be eaten fresh 

 out of hand. Don't cook it. In doing so 

 you simply spoil a good thing. I do not 

 think Mcintosh will supersede Fameuse in 

 the old home of the latter, but it will have 

 much greater vogue in the newer apple region 

 of British Columbia and the Northwest 

 Pacific. 



Primate, much esteemed as an autumn apple. Long- 

 lived and productive 



