July, 1889. 
137 
ORCHARD 
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Tbe Northfield Beauty Apple. 
This apple, like the Wealthy, is claimed 
to have been grown from a seed of the Yel- 
low Siberian crab. The tree has very little 
about it to indicate relationship to the Si- 
berian, yet the fruit has the pure and deli- 
cate tints, pale yellow and rose color, which 
we see in the pure crab, and in many of 
their hybrids. But the Northfield Beauty 
is an apple in size, averaging three inches 
in diameter, when fairly well grown. In 
quality it is among the best dessert apples 
of its season, which is early winter in lat. 
45 deg. N. The tree is a very good grower, 
with small, light-green foliage, which is 
whitish downy beneath, and somewhat 
crumpled. It bears young and abundantly, 
yet without the tendency of the Wealthy 
to destroy itself by overbearing, and is 
about as hardy as the Wealthy. The fruit, 
besides its beautiful coloring, is always 
smooth and fair, being free from fungous 
spotting, or other disease, and but little af- 
fected by the codlin worm. It is conical, 
with a rather long stem, and hangs well to 
the tree; but it requires careful handling to 
get it to market without injury. Its limit 
of season is about the holidays, and un- 
doubtedly it is a valuable apple for that 
time, on account of its delicate beauty, 
which is well justified in its fine quality 
for dessert. Its place of origin is Northfield, 
Vt., where it was originally known as 
“Cady’s Crab.” 
The “Onthelm” Family of Clierrlea. 
The first success in growing cherries for 
market in the cold north was from seedling 
trees grown by German immigrants to Min- 
nesota. These growers called them “Ost- 
heim” (East Home) cherries, but admitted 
that they were seedlings, which differed 
considerably in season, size, color and quality, 
yet with a strong family likeness in tree and 
fruit. Thename“Ostheim’ was not altogeth- 
er unknown in America, for Downing de- 
scribes a cherry of the Morello family under 
that name, with the synonym “Osthei- 
mer Weichsel,” and “Frankische Wucher 
Kirsche.” But though Downing tells his 
readers that it is “tender, juicy, rich, al- 
most sweet, subacid, very good,” it never 
seems to have become known to American 
growers; and no nurseryman, and so far as 
can be learned no amateur, seems to have 
preserved it, if in fact it ever was imported. 
However this may be, the success of Ger- 
mans with it in Minnesota created a lively 
demand for it, which has been filled chiefly 
with suckers from the seedling originals, a 
number of which, no two quite the same, I 
have from time to time received. Prof. 
Budd of Iowa has imported and supplied 
me with trees of “Cerise d’Ostheim,” which 
he says is “hardier than the Minnesota Ost- 
heim and bears better, larger and earlier 
fruit.” He has also sent me several “Weich- 
sels,” which are similar, and one of them, 
the Hertzformige Weichsel (Heartshaped 
Weichsel) not only produces fine cherries, 
but by its symmetrical growth and hand- 
some striped foliage, is a valuable acquisi- 
tion as an ornamental lawn tree. 
The Bethel Apple of Vermont. 
I have recently received several enquir- 
ies about this apple, and a general interest 
seems to be taken in it by planters in the 
“cold north.” It is one of the few “iron clads” 
of American origin, and judging by its ap- 
pearance and other characteristics I am in- 
clined to regard it as a seedling of the Blue 
Pearmain, an apple which is very hardy, 
though not sufficiently so for localities 
where the Bethel succeeds well. The orig- 
inal Bethel tree is, I think, still alive in the 
town of Bethel, in the valley of the White 
River, a tributary from the Vermont side 
to the Connecticut river. Young trees of 
this variety are thrifty, vigorous growers, 
making nice trees in the nursery at two 
years from the bud. They also grow well 
in orchard, if planted in good land and 
properly cared for. They do not come 
early to bearing, resembling Northern Spy 
in this, but they are good annual bearers 
after they get started at it. The fruit is- 
oval in form, medium to large in size, shad- 
ed, striped and mottled with dark red, and 
covered with a heavy blue bloom. In quality 
it is very good both for dessert and culinary 
use, and it is an excellent keeper, maintain- 
ing its quality to the last. It is quite wide- 
ly distributed in northern NewYork, where 
it is known as the Stone apple, from the 
Vermonter who introduced it there, and in 
all the colder parts of New England it is 
rapidly becoming known. It is the longest 
keeper of good dessert quality yet found 
among the American iron-clad apples. 
Orchard Notings, 
Spraying for the codlin worm is proving 
a great success in New England, and the 
Vermont fruit growers, especially on the 
islands and about the borders of Lake 
Champlain, are prosecuting it vigorously. 
The “Railroad Worm” was, as Orchard 
and Garden supposes, named from its fol- 
lowing along the track of the railroads in 
New England. It has been very destruc- 
tive, especially to the fine early sorts, and 
to sweets, early and late. If spraying is to 
relieve us of it, it must be continued pretty 
late, I think. 
The “Apple Maggot” is not the “rail- 
road worm,” as I understand it. The latter 
pierces tne apples through and through, the 
tracks they make becoming hard, brownish 
lines, like coarse threads, and making the 
fruit quite uneatable, without greatly 
changing its external appearance. But the 
“maggot” eats the apple from the outside, 
making vernicular, gouge-like tracks, and 
spinning a slight web as it proceeds. Such 
fruit, though not uneatable, or seriously in- 
jured internally, is unmarketable, and soon 
decays. 
The Banner Tcwn for fruit in New Eng- 
land, size, population and product consid- 
ered, is the small “Isle LaMotte” in Lake 
Champlain. This island town, of 500 in- 
habitants, sold and shipped, in 1888, nearly 
4000 barrels of No. 1 apples, at an average 
net price of $2 per barrel, with pears and 
plums enough to bring the entire cash re- 
turns, for fruit sold, up to $10,000, or an 
average of $20 for each man, woman and 
child.— -T. H. Hoskins. 
Curculio Proof Plums. 
I have just read Dr Hoskins’ note. In- 
stead of wishing to kill him as suggested for 
saying Mooer’s Arctic is nearly or quite free 
from Curculio I wish to add that some vari- 
eties on our grounds are practically free 
from injury. 
Among out natives I will name De Soto, 
Wolf, Wyant, Magnoketa, and Forest Rose. 
Among the Russian plums the early Red 
has never to any knowledge lost a specimen. 
I found last year, and this morning, a very 
few marks of the pest, but no living larva 
has been found, and the marks scarcely 
make a blemish. The idea has been ad- 
vanced that the little Turk damages least the 
sorts that make very rapid and succulent 
growth early in the season. This may 
prove correct as the Early Red blossoms 
with the De Soto, but at this time it is fully 
four times as large. The same is true of 
Prunus Simoni It grows very rapidly and is 
four times as large now as some sorts much 
stung by the curculio. Upon examination 
this morning I fail to find a single larva 
and but one specimen out of twenty, per- 
haps, shows a faint mark where the punc- 
ture was made. A native plum I did not 
include in the above list was brought from 
near Chippewa Falls, Wis. and is known as 
“Chippewa”. It is always loaded with 
plums, even at two years old in the nursery, 
and rarely shows a curculio mark and never 
a larva that I have seen. It also has the 
habit of rapid development of fruit. Al- 
though not as large as Wolf when mature 
it is now double the size of that variety. — 
J. L. Budd, Agricultural College, Iowa. 
A Few Suggestions. 
Summer apples should be picked from the 
tree early if intended for market — almost 
as soon as the skin begins to change color. 
When left too long on the tree the fruit be- 
comes mealy. Summer pears also should 
be gathered one week at least before they 
ripen. Some of them rot at the core and 
all are better when ripened in the house. 
There are a few signs which indicate to 
the experienced orchardist the proper time 
to pick pears; change of color in the fruit 
and the parting of the stem readily from 
the branch are pretty sure signs. 
A judicious thinning of fruit on the tree 
will be found a profitable operation, espe- 
cially with the pear, and should not be 
overlooked. 
