274 



THE ORIGINATION OF VARIETIES. 



dark brown ; flesh yellowish, a little coarse, rather firm, 

 moderately juicy, mild, rich sub-acid ; quality very good ; 

 season, March. Tree said to be good grower, hardy and 

 productive. Originated by F. M. Benham, Petoskey, 

 Michigan. This is a very handsome apple, and appears 

 to be a good keeper in Michigan ; specimens received in 

 good order March i8. An apple as handsome as this 

 would sell well in any market. It looks as if it might 

 be a seedling of the Baldwin. It is adapted to all sec- 

 tions where the monthly mean temperature is the same 

 as Michigan, but cannot be of any value in Kansas and 

 in any other section of the same mean temperature, as 

 it would be a coarse fall apple. 



Kansas Rcaiity, Fig. 6. Fruit large ; form oblate conic, 

 sometimes slightly oblique ; color rich yellow, often with 

 a blush very handsome ; dots medium, numerous, suf- 



fused, white ; stem medium slender ; cavity wide, deep, 

 regular, yellow, sometimes slightly russeted ; calyx rather 

 small, closed, or very slightly open ; segments short, 

 erect ; basin rather narrow, shallow, slightly furrowed ; 

 core rather small, closed ; carpels small, slightly open ; 

 flesh yellow, tender, juicy, mild, pleasant sub-acid, very 

 good ; season, September to November in Kansas, about 

 with Jonathan. A seedling of the McAfee, by the late Dr. 

 W. M. Howsley, of this place. This is one of the finest 

 and most showy apples, which would command the very 

 highest price in any market. The tree appears hardy, 

 erect, spreading and productive, and if it was grown 

 about two hundred miles north of here, would be a val- 

 uable winter apple. 



All the above are fully distinct, and valuable. 



Leavenwortli, Kansas. J. Staymah. 



THE ORIGINATION OF VARIETIES. 



ASTONISHING RESULTS, BEATING 



UCH is said about the getting-up 

 of new varieties of fruits, ve- 

 getables, flowers and plants, 

 and it is a grand thing. There 

 is great satisfaction and profit 

 in living in this wonderful age 

 when so many grand new good 

 things are all the time being 

 advertised in the catalogues. The gardeners of 

 these days do not realize how great their ad- 

 vantages are in the originating of superb 

 new things. Before the time of handsome 

 catalogues and grand impartial periodicals, 

 it was a difficult matter to get up anything 

 really new and good. 



I hope, Mr. Editor, that you will pardon 

 any reference to my own work, but some of 

 the younger generation may not know about 

 the diiliculties which an ambitious gardener 

 twenty years ago had to overcome. Those 

 whose recollections run back into the fifties 

 may recall some of the grand new novelties 

 which I sent out in a modest way. As soon 

 as I had become acclimated to this Ameri- 

 can soil, I was sure there was money in it, 

 if it could only be gotten out. So I set out 

 to breed up new vegetables, and I was suc- 

 cessful, for I knew that I should be from 

 the start. 



My first attempt was with potatoes, for I was 

 fully convinced that the potato is an important food 

 product. I planted a half acre of the old Davis' 

 Seedling, and by carefully marking the earliest 

 plants, I had collected enough seed by fall to make 



NATURE WITH LIGHTNING SPEED ! 



a grand new variety, and I sent this out the next 

 spring as Choke's New Early Dawn Morning Star. 

 It was a grand success, for I recollect that the fifty 

 bushels which I had to sell netted me over $15 per 

 bushel. The seed was bought by so many persons, 

 that I knew it would be unprofitable to grow it another 

 year, so I set to work to breed up a new variety the 

 next year. To do this and be sure that I should 

 get a superb good thing, I selected eight bushels of 



Fig. 6. Kansas Beauty. 



the biggest Davis' Seedlings I could find, and plant- 

 ed them upon my best soil. In the fall I again se- 

 lected out all the biggest potatoes, and I had a 

 magnificent new variety, which I named Choke's 

 Grand Arc de Triomph. This was a bigger success 



