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AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



March, 1907 



A Study of New Apples 



By E. P. Powell 



^Sj ^g^^ ^y^ FIN D myself wishing that I could reach 

 7^^^^^^^^ apple tree planters and home makers with a 

 lx^\fl ^felliwl '^'^ '^^ experience about varieties to plant, 

 ^^^^i^pal^^ One of the worst disasters connected with 

 ^^T^^^ country life is the very general ignorance 

 ^^^^^^^^^1 concerning good fruit. I frequently have to 

 search among farmers' stock for a few bar- 

 rels of good lot to fill the orders of my customers that over- 

 reach my own supply. It is nearly impossible to obtain a first 

 grade of fruit, well picked and rationally stored. \ hey are 

 hauled oft the trees, tossed about and poured about, and then 

 left in piles on the wet ground. Very few of even the better 

 class of planters know anything about varieties beyond a half- 

 dozen old sorts. Tree peddlers occasionally work in some- 

 thing new, but this stock is generally inferior. An encour- 

 aging symptom is a growing disgust for such worthless stuft 

 as Ben Da\ is. I ha\'e grafted out and cut out every tree in 

 my own orchard, and I hear in all (juartcrs that they can no 

 longer be sold even to Italian street \ enders. 



I should like to recommend the following sorts as worthy 

 candidates for a home orchard. Among the very earliest 

 I should place Yellow I ransparent and Liefland Raspberry 

 as two very good croppers as well as fruits of the highest 

 quality. These associated with Red Astrachan make a group 

 for very early market as well as for home use. Gravenstein 

 and Fameuse are fairlv well known, and the latter is not un- 

 common in our farm orchards; but the noble Gravenstein is 

 very seldom found. As for Fameuse, it is so subject to insect 

 depredation that I will no longer plant it unless in very open 

 lots, where wind and sunshine can ha\'e complete sway. In 

 the place of Fameuse one may plant Shiawassie Beauty, 

 which is one of its seedlings. Follow this with Walter Pease 

 and Mcintosh, two more of its seedlings, and you will hardly 

 miss the old sort. I should class Walter Pease and Mcin- 

 tosh at the \'ery head of apples for quality — good for both 

 table and cooking. Another seedling of Fameuse is Princess 

 Louise, a most delicious October and November apple; only 

 this also is a favorite of the worms and moths — so much 

 so that I am grafting it out. Autumn Strawberry is another 

 superb fruit beloved of the insects, and therefore suitable 

 only for open lots ; but Summer Strawberry or Sherwood's 

 Favorite is excellent In every way. The tree will stand 

 in a close orchard, and serve well as a filler. Walter Pease 

 has an aroma that makes it delicious even to smell. It 

 flavors the whole cellar. In October the President apple 

 is one of the choicest for desert. It is large and yellowish, 

 and for flavor hardly surpassed. It it one of the digestable 

 apples. Pound Sweet is growing in favor again, and one 

 can hardly raise too many for local market; but it should 

 always stand out in the open, and be left on the tree until 

 about the first of October; then it becomes a magnificent 

 fruit, full of sweetness. A green Pound Sweet is most 

 worthless of all apples. Among our winter sorts the Stay- 

 mans Winesap, the Grimes Golden, the Hubbardston, the 

 Danchy Sweet, the Mother, make a good supplement for 

 Spy, Greening, Baldwin, Spitzenberg, and Swaar. These 

 varieties will constitute almost a perfect home orchard, and 

 :it the same time are sorts admirably adapted for market. 

 I should be inclined to add one or two which are hardly 

 first class for home use, but sell wonderfully well; such as 

 Alexander and possibly the York Imperial. Neither of 

 these are good home fruit. Stuarts Golden Is a medium- 



sized apple, delicious, and a very long keeper. Then we 

 have the old Seeknofurther, if one cares for a rather mild 

 fla\'ored fruit. All of these sorts are fairly free from in- 

 sect attack, with thorough spraying. 



Our worst pest just now in the orchard is the trypeta 

 fly. This Insect stings the fruit all summer, and we can 

 scarcely protect it by any of the sprays. If I were to plant 

 an orchard over again It should also be a sheep pasture. In 

 this case every apple that drops is Immediately devoured, 

 worms, eggs, and all. It is positively the best way of getting 

 rid of insects. I find that trees growing in berry lots or 

 otherwise among bushes or in vineyards are beset with the 

 trypeta far worse than others. The minute eggs are thrust 

 through the skin all over the apple, and hatch out at any 

 time when there is sufliclent heat. The very small worms 

 gut the fruit — sometimes in the middle of the winter, in the 

 cellar. I have been compelled to sort out over half of my 

 Northern Spy as second class, or fit only for cider. Among 

 the varieties least subject to this evil are Hubbardston, 

 Seeknofurther, Pound Sweet, Baldwin, and Spitzenberg. 

 The Swaar also comes out solid and clean. The Fameuse or 

 Snow is so badly infested that sometimes the whole crop 

 goes. 



I wish to add a note concerning the Spitzenberg. This 

 magnificent fruit Is supposed by many to be run out. The 

 same impression has gone abroad concerning the Swaar. 

 The truth is that both of these apples will grow just as 

 well as ever, and give their glorious fruit In profusion, if 

 treated as they were by our fathers. They must be grafted 

 high on old trees. If root-grafted, they stand on their own 

 trunks, and are subject to winter scald very badly. The 

 result Is short-lI\'ed trees. The King is another sort that 

 needs high grafting. On Its own roots, or root grafted, its 

 limbs sprawl, and It Is short lived. This variety is also 

 very subject to insects when growing low. I have not men- 

 tioned Jonathan, and only referred to Grimes Golden or 

 Golden Pippin, simply because these varieties are unfit for 

 clay soils. They thrive best In the sandy soils of Southern 

 Ohio and West Virginia, and in some of the Mississippi 

 Valley States. They are both of them woefully subject to 

 the trypeta fly. 



I have tried in these notes to give such accurate informa- 

 tion. In brief, as will guide country home makers in securing 

 a thoroughly good orchard. Wismers Dessert perhaps ought 

 to be added to my list, on the authority of some of the best 

 growers; while Delicious and Senator are coming to the front 

 wonderfully for quality, and Black Ben and King David for 

 quality and beauty. 



There are two chief things to be considered In apple rais- 

 ing; excellence of stock and care in growth. And there is no 

 doubt but of these the very first and more Important Is ex- 

 cellence of stock. It is ne\ er worth while to grow a poor 

 fruit. This is quite as true of other fruits than apples, but it is 

 apples only I am now considering. A poor tree gives no 

 satisfaction, it takes up valuable space, and, when neglected, 

 is a breeding place for all manner of disease. The difl'icul- 

 ties that most growers have with fruit trees come from 

 bad stock, and nothing is more discouraging. My object in 

 this article has been to condense some experiences with grow- 

 ing apples and to name some of the best varieties. It is a 

 culture of deep interest and one that will well repay the 

 trouble put upon it. 



