Apples in Your Home Fruit Garden 



By J. R. Mattern, 



Pennsyl- 



WHERE SUPERB QUALITY IS THE SOLE MEASURE OF MERIT — SOME- 

 THING QUITE DIFFERENT FROM THE COMMERCIAL ORCHARDISTS, IDEALS 



Editor's Note. — Last month the general requirements of the home garden were considered. The apple, as the universal fruit is 



now taken up to be followed by similar treatment of the other fruits. 



GOD never made any fruit finer 

 than apples — when the right 

 varieties are in the right places. 

 In a home garden about half the 

 total quantity of fruit produced should be 

 apples, because apples are a universal need. 

 They do not cloy our appetites, they keep 

 well in any manner of storage, and they 

 may be eaten raw or cooked. Apples 

 have a high food value, too— a food value 

 equal to that of potatoes. 



In very small gardens the proportion of 

 as many apples as all other fruits put to- 

 gether can not be maintained to advantage 

 because with bush and plant fruits more 

 can be produced on the limited areas 

 available. Apples should form a larger 

 proportion of the total fruit grown in a 

 Northern garden than in a Southern garden 

 because apples are among the hardiest of 

 fruits. "Half the garden in apples" is a 

 rule that should be the starting point for 

 all garden plans, and it should be modified 

 only by necessities of climate, fruit re- 

 quirements, and other unalterable con- 

 ditions. 



With the size of the garden settled, it is 

 an easy matter to determine how many trees 

 you have room for. Set the standard trees 

 fifteen to eighteen feet apart each way, 

 and dwarf apple trees eight to twelve feet 

 apart each • way. These distances are 

 much less than usually demanded, but I 

 take it that in your garden the aim is to 

 get fruit, as much as possible, as soon as 

 possible, and of as high quality as possible, 

 and not to develop beautifully formed 

 trees. This close planting for many years 

 should give you the fruit as you want it. 

 It is necessary for best results later, how- 

 ever, to arrange the different varieties so 

 that some of the trees will be what are 

 called "fillers," 

 between "per 

 manent," trees. 

 These "filler" 

 trees may be cut 

 or dug out at the 

 end of ten to fif- 

 teen years, when 

 they begin to 

 crowd the other 

 trees. But be- 

 fore that time 

 they likely will 

 • bear hundreds of 

 bushels of fruit. 



On the selec- 

 tion of the right 

 kinds of apples 

 for your garden 

 depends a large 

 part of the yields 

 and most of the 

 satisfaction you 



get from your trees. Though important, 

 proper selection is a comparatively simple 

 matter when once you understand the 

 classes into which apple varieties naturally 

 fall, and the principles which underlie their 

 requirements. In a nutshell, the differ- 

 ences between the adaptations of varieties 

 are due to the fact that any variety reaches 

 its greatest perfection under conditions 

 similar to those in which it originated, and 

 changes of climate act in peculiar ways to 

 effect fruit varieties. Elsewhere their suc- 

 cess varies and they may fail entirely. 

 The features comprised within the term 

 "conditions" were analyzed and explained 

 at length in last month's Garden Maga- 

 zine. The varieties chosen should be at 

 home in your particular kind of soil, they 

 should be acclimated at your altitude, and 

 should be suited to your latitude. You 

 must bear in mind that each five hundred 

 feet increase or decrease in elevation above 



Cox Orange, a highly flavored dessert apple, thriving 

 on light soil from New York to Virginia 



Banana, adapted for heavy soil from New Brunswick to Virginia. A large apple, medium flavor 



18 



sea level is equal in effect to about sixty- 

 six miles north or south, and you must 

 remember the influences of nearby bodies 

 of water and the effects of air-drainage. 



The varieties planted should suit your 

 purposes and needs in ripening season, in 

 character of fruit, in bearing habits, in 

 growth of tree, and should conform to your 

 personal likes and dislikes. These features 

 usually are neglected from the practical 

 standpoint, and over-emphasized from the 

 sentimental one. Before you try to choose 

 kinds adapted to your location, make up 

 your mind about the items of ripening 

 season, and size and color and flavor of 

 fruit that you must have. Change this 

 choice only to include certain standard 

 varieties which are too valuable to miss, 

 such, for instance, as Grimes Golden and 

 Stayman. After you have decided on these 

 points, you are ready to narrow your list 

 to those half dozen or less kinds which em- 

 body your requirements and which are 

 known to succeed preeminently under the 

 conditions of your garden. Remember 

 that only those kinds which do their very 

 best in your location are fit for you to 

 plant. 



There are all of a thousand varieties of 

 apples, but a comparatively few of them are 

 of such all round excellence as to be far 

 in the lead of the others. Unless you want 

 to experiment for the good of civilization, 

 your garden should be planted with a scant 

 half dozen of the forty varieties described 

 in the table herewith. These forty sorts 

 are the cream of all apples for home gar- 

 dens, north or south or anywhere. If you 

 miss from the list the name of some old love 

 that used to grow "back home," shed no 

 tears over its loss, because among the forty 

 you will find one or more kinds with added 

 points of excel- 

 lence. The list 

 does not omit any 

 of high merit. 

 The table gives 

 the facts that are 

 needed for a wise 

 selection, includ- 

 ing the latitude 

 and altitude 

 adaptabilities of 

 each sort, the 

 ripening time, 

 the color, flavor 

 and size of fruit, 

 the use for which 

 each sort is best 

 suited, and the 

 age at which it 

 usually begins to 

 bear. 



The three 

 "Belts of Clim- 



