77Q 



GARDENERS' MAGAZINE, 



Fruits for Cottagers and Small Farmers. 



R.H.5. VARIETIES OF FRUITS. 



November 26, 1898. 



the kitchen apples. In Mr. Barron's invaluable Renort ft f rtTTT~ 

 Apple Congress held ,n 1883 it was placed fifth on P ° t £ e ^t-onal 

 apples selected the greatest number of times, andfifthSlI^ 

 sixty dessert apples. I am aware that in th« 1™ the lls * of 



It has been my privilege in past years, when lecturing on fruit culture by the R H S. for the guidance of their Judged, wfiofff 1 



££££ & t ech g „ica, L«™c ti on dasses ,o —end and dU- T^^^t^^^^^ 



tribute the leaflet of the R. H. S. entitled in 1892 "Fruits for Cottagers among dessert apples, and excluded, therefore as y a c^W 5 1 P K Ccd 



Few ? ort ? sell ^ well foj 



and Small Farmers." The excellence of even the first edition, prepared 

 under the supervision of the Fruit Committee, which (we are told in the 

 first page) u consists of forty of the leading experts in fruit culture in this 

 country," is, of course, beyond all question. Sixty thousand copies of 

 this edition appear to have been circulated. In October, 1892, a second 

 edition was issued, and now a similar leaflet, entitled " Varieties of 

 Fruits" is offered for circulation. This last leaflet is, in fact, an 

 enlarged and revised edition of the first. It contains details on 

 artificial manuring not in the former edition, details which are of great 

 value. 



^iniuu see ^Mnction. *ew sorts sell so well far 



keeping, cooking, or eating purposes. An orchardist in m v neishW 

 hood has just sold his crop for nine shillings a bushel net • some nf l 

 have gone for eight shillings. Lord Suffield and Keswick,' rec^mended 

 in the first and second editions, have both been altogether ejected Th 

 favourable remarks respecting them in the earlier editions have m 

 sufficed to save them, nor the remarkable fact that in the elertmnTr 

 1883 Lord Suffield was at the head of the poll and Keswick Sim 

 third. Grenadier, no doubt, is intended to take their places Mav I 

 express a doubt as to the wisdom of the change ? Grenadier with me 

 has been a poor grower, as well as an unlucky tree. My soldier son 

 galloping round our orchard, soldier- like, hit the head of Grenadier 

 right off as his horse swerved. The other Grenadiers seem to mourn 

 the loss of their companion. Sturmer Pippin, too, described in the first 

 edition as " a very fine variety," is seen no more. I took the advice 

 offered by the committee of forty experts in 1892, planted the tree and 

 cooking, from trees suitable tor gardens as Dusnes or as nalt-standards, have no reason to repent. The Duchess of Oldenburg was originally 

 ten cooking varieties as suitable for standards and orchard trees, eleven recommended as best for a bush or half-standard ; it is now recom 



• . ■ _ i_ 1 _ c j „ u.^u^ ~~ -a. j 1 _ mpnrlpH hut as rather sin fa hie for Qtonrlarrlo m ^^"U^^a *. 



But I am writing chiefly to direct attention to the lists of apples 

 recommended at intervals by the R. H. S. In the first and second 

 editions twelve varieties are selected for cooking, eight for eating. In 

 the edition recently published, fourteen varieties are named as apples for 

 cooking, from trees suitable for gardens as bushes or as half-standards, 



eating varieties, suitable for gardens as bushes or half-standards, and seven 

 as suitable for standards and orchard trees, forty-two varieties in all. A 

 few of the varieties, however, occur in both lists. 



The poor cottager or small farmer, one would suppose, will be sorely 

 puzzled in making a choice of his two or three trees ; as he also would 

 be over the word "pendulous," used to describe the habit of various 



trees. „ flN| 3* P . -'^CM^^. 



The following table of the varieties recommended may be interesting 

 (Editions I. and II.) 



Apples for Cooking. 



Blenheim Orange 

 Bramley's Seedling 



Ecklinville 

 Keswick Codlin 

 Lane's Prince Albert 

 Lord Suffield 

 Lord Grosvenor 

 New Northern Greening 

 New Hawthomden 

 Pott's Seedling 

 Stirling Castle 

 Warner's King 



The edition of 1898 is no longer "Fruits for Cottagers and Small 

 Farmers," but " Varieties of Fruits." Cottagers, owners of small gardens, 

 and farmers are advised to consult this list. It is as follows : — 



Apples for Eating. 



Braddick's Nonpareil 

 Cox's Orange Pippin 

 Duchess of Oldenburg 

 Irish Peach 

 King of the Pippins 

 Red Quarrenden 

 Sturmer Pippin 



(Ribston Pippin, named, but not 

 recommended) 



Wonder 



I. Apples for Cooking. 



(a) As Bushes. 



White Transparent 

 Lord Grosvenor 

 Pott's Seedling 

 Frogmore Prolific 

 Stirling Castle 

 Seaton House 

 Golden Spire 

 New Hawthornden 

 Small's Admirable 

 Hormead Peaimain 

 Bismarck 



Bramley's Seedling 

 Lane's Prince Albert 

 Newton Wonder 



(b) As Standards or Orchard Trees. 



Duchess of Oldenburg 

 Ecklinville 

 Grenadier 

 Warner's King 

 Lord Derby 



New Northern Greening 

 Alfriston 



Bram ley's Seedling 

 Newton Wonder 



Dumelow's Seedling or Wellington 



II. Apples for Eating. 



(a) As Bushes or Half Standards. (b) A* Standards and Orchard Trees 



Mr. Gladstone 



Irish Peach, or Lady Sudeley 

 Devonshire Quarrenden 

 Worcester Pearmain 

 King of the Pippins 

 Cox's Orange Pippin 

 Scarlet Nonpareil, or Cockle's 

 Pippin 



Braddick's Nonpareil, or Court 

 PendCl Plat 



Devonshire Quarrenden 

 Worcester Pearmain 

 Cox's Pomona 

 King of the Pippins 

 Cox's Orange 

 Blenheim Orange 

 Gascoigne's Scarlet 



Here is certainly choice enough and to spare. Twenty-three apples 

 for cooking, sixteen for eating— thirty-nine in all ! The first and second 

 editions select nineteen in all ; this last edition gives the cottager and 

 small farmer a choice of twenty more. 



I venture to suggest that the method of naming about a dozen apples, 

 and then reducing them to one, two, or three, is better for the cottager, 

 if not for us all. Let us look into these lists. 



t? le £ h ! im P***&*J P laced at th * head of the list of cooking apples 

 Stir . T s «<=ond editions, now disappears, and is placed among the 

 c^W^frli^VJJ 9 h ?wever, described as "an excellent apple, 

 3£%^59 ^ t l ? l0W i lnc0min « into bearing." The removal of 



^^t^^^J 9 ^ <*? a11 events ' in S° od ' dee P Soil) fr ° m 

 tne neaa ot the old list to almost the ^ *L. Ji w ™* <^emc ctrancre. 



recommended as nest ior a ousn or half-standard ; it is now recom- 

 mended, but as rather suitable for standards or orchard trees. My 

 experience coincides entirely with that of the committee who prepared 

 the first and second editions. 



The latest list, as I have pointed out, contains a number of new 

 names. White Transparent I do not see in three or four of the best 

 catalogues ; how long has it been tested ? Early Julyan bears well and 

 sells well. Frogmore Prolific, though a eood bearer and a good cooking 

 apple, is "soft" (so Mr. Barron describes it), and is therefore open to 

 objection. I do not see Seaton House in Mr. Rivers' catalogue of 1897-98, 

 but it is described by Veitcb as a late Stirling Castle, and may there- 

 fore be valuable. Hormead Pearmain is said, in the ' Fruit Manual," to be 

 of medium size, and the specimens displayed at the recent Crystal Palace 

 Show must have disappointed many. The rule of the Committee of the 

 Apple Congress, laid down at the end of their report, seems to me a 

 golden one. They say (p. 160), "With regard to culinary apples, since 

 so many excellent varieties of large size, &c, are now in cultivation, all 

 those under the standard of 'large, 5 three inches in diameter, might 

 be with advantage at once discarded." It is only fair to add that it is 

 described by Mr. Barron as " large." 



The highest compliment in the new list is reserved for Newton 



Your able correspondent, Mr. 

 Harris, recently described it, if I mistake not, as "coming rather slowly 

 into bearing " ; that, too, is our experience. An old housekeeper of mine 

 used, years ago, to impress upon me that you can never know anyone 

 until you have " summered and wintered " with them. No apple, in my 

 opinion, should be placed in the list of the R.H.S. until it has been tested 

 north, east, south, and west for at least ten years — fifteen would be better. 

 Will Newton Wonder stand that test ? I do not see it named in Rivers' 

 catalogue of 1891. The specimens at the last Palace Show were dis- 

 appointing. It is a pleasure to see Lord Derby brought to the front ; 

 this, to my mind, is one of the best of our culinary apples, and has won 

 its way to the front rank simply on its merits. " Very large," says Mr. 

 Barron, " first quality, a fine, handsome apple, and great bearer." Should 

 Alfriston appear in such distinguished company? The Committee of 

 1883 describe it as "very firm, first quality, mid-season, a moderate 

 bearer." I should have thought that Tower of Glammis, described by 

 the same authority as "large, flushed, firm, mid-season, first quality, a 

 handsome apple, and a great cropper," had a prior claim. But it comes 

 from the land o' cakes, and its merits, therefore, may not be so well 

 known. 



Among the apples for eating Cox's Pomona is mentioned, much to the 

 surprise, I should think, of many. In the election list of culinary apples 

 in Mr. Barron's book it is placed thirteenth, Alfriston being fourteenth. 

 In the descriptive catalogue of the same report it has the letter C or D 

 attached to it, but its name does not appear among the dessert apples. 

 Dr. Hogg calls it a culinary apple. Its colour makes it attractive and 

 saleable, but it is "tender" (Mr. Barron), and does not keep well. 1 

 ought to add that it is described in the "Varieties of Fruits" {le. % VXt 

 third edition) as also good for cooking, as it undoubtedly is. But it is 

 very soft and a bad traveller. 



In the "addenda" to the "Varieties" amateurs are invited to try, 

 among others, D ? Arcy Spice. "This," remarked Mr. Bunyards 

 famous foreman to me about ten years ago, " is the slowest growing tree 

 among our six hundred varieties" ; and, no doubt, it is a "terrible slow 

 coach," as pedagogues are wont to say. After ten years' trial mine : are 

 just coming into tolerable bearing. A common opinion in Essex (wnere 

 it is the favourite apple, and sells at a high price in April or May) is tflai 

 there are two varieties, viz., the Spice and the D'Arcy Spice, *ir. 

 Bunting, the nurseryman, of Colchester, used to keep these vaneue 

 distinct, but he could see little or no difference between WtWJj^JJ! 



sellers * " " "~ " r> "* 



ance 



character. 



beware of sending this apple to the London markets ; its apP" 

 is not in its favour. It must be sold, like a good hunter, oy 



St. Edmund's Pippin is another apple recommended to the 

 ateurs. This is a famous russet, but why name it " Pippm ? 1 hos 



SiSS^F^^^ ap P Ies (at a11 events > in S° od > dee P soil) from a / nateurs - This ^ a famous russet, but 

 X not t\ ZLw 7, St t0 a, ™°. st the en d of the new one seems strange, shown at the Palace were splendid fruit. 

 u i_ . Grange distinctly a cooking aoDle ? You describe A friend, who 



is not Blenheim Orange distinctly a cooking apple? 



as sucn m your Leader of October 22. Rivers and Veitch place it among 



x oim.c were splendid iruiu _„rUets 



A friend, who was a salesman at one of the great London jm**- 

 has recently become an Essex planter, and has put down, he tens 



