1862 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
147 
Paradise, large and straggling grower, and fine apple. 
Fall Apples. —I place the Qravenstein at the 
head of the list. It is a fine showy fruit-tree, an up¬ 
right thrifty grower, and good bearer, and very sala¬ 
ble. Maiden's Blush is another pretty sort, and ex¬ 
cellent for the table—far better than Hawthornden. 
Am. Summer Pearmain, a superior dessert sort, good 
bearer, but slow grower, needing a rich soil. Porter, 
a highly esteemed Fall apple, and when not too 
many on the tree, large and excellent. This is a very 
salable variety and the tree makes a beautiful 
growth. The Rambo is a fine apple in most places, 
but fails entirely in others. Pall Pippin is a fine old 
variety, but too uncertain for general culture—some 
years very fine, and again nearly worthless. Among 
sweet Fall apples the Autumn Bough deserves a 
place. It is a good grower and productive, excellent 
both for the table and baking. I have found the 
Willis Sweeting the, best baking variety, and when ful¬ 
ly ripe fine for the dessert. It is a good grower, and 
the fruit is in use longer than any other Autumn 
variety. Jersey Sweeting is a better table apple than 
the preceding, but not as valuable in any other re¬ 
spect. Corlies Sweeting is a very thrifty grower, and 
is a good baking variety. Lowell is a fine grower, 
and is held in much esteem. Fall Orange is a strong 
grower, and bears very early; the fruit is excellent 
for stewing and dessert. 
Winter Apples.— The Baldwin appears to have 
the highest reputation of any Winter apple grow¬ 
ing in this country. It is a beautiful thrifty grow¬ 
er, and bears abundantly a rich fine fruit. Its near¬ 
est rival, the Rhode Island Greening, perhaps is more 
extensively planted than any other, and adapts it¬ 
self to nearly every soil, and few need hesitate to 
plant abundantly of this fine old variety. Among 
the late keeping sorts the Roxbury Russet has the 
highest reputation. This is a good grower, and 
bears well. The Hubbardston Nonsuch is a large, 
beautiful fruit, and ripens in the early part of 
Winter. The tree is a fine grower, and abundant, 
regular bearer, an excellent, very salable fruit. 
Pick's Pleasant is a profitable variety, resembles 
the Newtown Pippin in shape, a better grower and- 
bearer, but not its equal in keeping or flavor. The 
Esopus Spitzenberg, Northern Spy, Newtown Pippin, 
Bellflower, Swaar, and Vandervere are most excel¬ 
lent varieties, when perfect. They succeed well in 
some localities, but are not adapted to all soils and 
climates. For sweet Winter apples I recommend 
the Talman Sweeting as a fine grower and abundant 
bearer; the Ladies Sweeting is a beautiful spicy fruit, 
and abundant bearer, but it is not a fast grower; 
the Moore Sweeting for its long keeping and excellent 
baking qualities; and Pound Sweeting fora large 
sized, productive, and salable variety. 
Undoubtedly there are sorts of apples not named 
in the above lists better adapted to certain lo¬ 
calities and soils, and we can not too urgently insist 
on the importance of those intending to plant an 
orchard, acquainting themselves with the kinds 
that have succeeded in their part of the country, 
and planting very sparingly if at all of those kinds 
that are unknown, however highly recommended 
they may be. The experience I have had fully 
justifies me in giving this advice to others, for many 
unprofitable trees of varieties good in some places I 
havebeen obliged to regraft. Theproportion of Sum¬ 
mer, Fall and Winter kinds that should be planted 
depends upon the purpose and locality of the or¬ 
chard. If for market chiefly, and accessible to a large 
city, large and showy early apples are the most 
profitable, either sweet or sour. And if too great 
a distance to send Summer and Autumn apples to 
market with safety, large, prolific and well known 
Winter varieties should be selected. The red apples 
bear carriage best, as they do not show bruises like 
light-yellow or white apples, and appear to greater 
advantage when exposed for sale. Red Astrachan, 
Gravenstein, Summer Pearmain and the firm yel¬ 
low Porter, appear well after a long journey. The 
marketman cares but little for the flavor or name 
of the fruit, provided it looks well when he receives 
it. When the orchard is intended chiefly for family 
use, beauty is not of much value, and smaller, high 
flavored and delicate apples will be most desirable. A 
few large coarse apples for stewing, may be allowed, 
but as a general rule fine flavored, tender fruit, is best 
for the culinary department too. Early apples sel¬ 
dom retain their flavor or good appearance long af¬ 
ter they are picked, and the trees should be frequent¬ 
ly visited either for market or for home U6e. 
KEEPING APPLES. 
Apples will keep better, if picked a little before 
they ripen or fall from the tree in Autumn. They 
should be kept in as cool a temperature as we can 
find above the freezing point, subject to as 
little variation as possible. After they are pick¬ 
ed in the Fall, place them in a cool dry cellar 
with a free ventilation of air through it. They 
should not be covered up nor the barrels head¬ 
ed for two or three weeks after they are gather¬ 
ed, as they must sweat or throw off part of their 
moisture; if this is checked by close covering, 
a portion of the fruit will soon decay. If a prop¬ 
er cellar with good ventilation be not accessible, 
they may be placed on the back side of a building, 
as liable to vary least in temperature, or in a cool 
dry room. Those that fall from the tree before 
the time for picking, and all bruised fruit, should 
be kept from the sound apples. Various meth¬ 
ods have been proposed for keeping apples, such 
as covering with dry sand, paper, sawdust, etc., 
but if placed among the fruit before they have 
sufficiently dried by sweating, they are productive 
of more harm than good. And no doubt this is 
the cause why some have succeeded, and others 
have failed. They did not understand this law. 
Pears, if placed in tight boxes and covered up soon 
after picking will ripen, and consequently decay 
much sooner. 
Of the insects that are injurious to apple trees, the 
orchard or tent caterpillar makes its appearance 
earliest in the Spring. The female lays her eggs in 
the Summer, in a circle around the twigs, and if 
the trees are small, the most expeditious way is 
to examine the trees in Winter or early Spring 
and remove these collections of eggs. The eye 
will soon learn to detect these gummy, dark looking 
rings, and if destroyedbefore they hatch, much dam¬ 
age maybe saved to the trees when first leafing out. 
Never let them remain on the tree until grown, as 
they will prepare much more trouble for the culti¬ 
vator the succeeding year. If faithfully kept down 
from the first there will belittle trouble afterwards. 
A pole with nails driven in the end with cloth tied 
around, or a stiff hair brush inserted in the nest early 
in the morning, and twisted round, will easily re¬ 
move them. The injury done by the worm of the 
apple moth is not so easily prevented. Allowing 
pigs and cattle to run in the orchard, and eat the 
fallen fruit, or picking them up frequently and feed¬ 
ing them to the pigs, which is better, will reduce 
their numbers. For the apple tree borer, there can 
be no surer remedy than often inspecting the trunk 
of the trees near the roots for their holes in Autumn, 
and inserting either the point of a knife or sharp 
wire ferret out and destroy the enemy in his hiding 
place. Keep the bark smooth by proper culture, 
washing with strong soapsuds, or a weak solution 
of sal soda mixed with wood ashes, if mossy. A 
little time frequently devoted to careful inspection 
of the orchard will pay as good if not better interest 
than any other labor on the farm. 
PLOWING ORCHARDS. 
Always have the best and most careful plowman 
perform this business. Oxen are the best, no doubt, 
but as all farmers do not possess them, use the 
most steady horses. Plow alternately one year 
towards the trees, and the next from them. The 
good plowman will not allow the plow to run deep 
too near the trees so as to injure the roots, and will 
have shorter swiffle trees made on purpose to plow 
the orchard with. When these conditions can not 
be all secured, it is safer to prevent barking the 
trees, to leave two or three furrows nearest them, 
and afterwards finish with one horse and a short 
swiffle tree. As injury is often done in harrowing 
among trees, the driver should have a short rope 
attached to the harrow, to hold in his hand, so that 
by a pull he can throw it off, if it inadvertently 
comes near the tree 
Best Apples for Different Localities. 
It is now well understood that while there 
are a few good apples that are vigorous growers, 
and prolific bearers all over the country, yet 
as a general rule there are varieties which are 
peculiarly adapted to only limited sections, and 
in these localities such apples are the best for 
general cultivation. As the readers of volume 
20 remember, we made an effort last year to 
gather the opinions of competent judges in re¬ 
gard to the best apples. Seventy seven lists 
were received, most of them from distinguished 
pomologists, horticultural and agricultural so¬ 
cieties, etc. The reports were published in de¬ 
tail in the Agriculturist for April, May, and June 
1861. For convenience of reference, and for the 
benefit of new subscribers, we present below a 
condensed table of the votes or preferences ex¬ 
pressed in the whole coimtry, and by sections: 
Votes given u 
Early H_... 
Red Astrachan. 
American Summer r 
Carolina Red June. 
William’s Favorite. 
Early Strawberry... 
-§ose°'"” 
Early Joe. 
Benoni. 
Keswick Codlin.... 
Esopus Spitzenberg. 
Yellow Bellflower;.. 
Northern Spy. 
Hubbardston Nonsuch. .. 
Rawle’s Janet. 
Wine Sap. 
Westfield Seek-no-furthei 
Golden Russet. 
Talman Sweeting... 
It will be seen that only three or four kinds re¬ 
ceived even a majority of the whole votes, and 
that in the different sections of the country, the 
preferences were considerably varied. Thus of 
Autumn apples, while 14 out of 17 authorities 
in New-York voted for the Fall Pippin, it re¬ 
ceived only 10 out of 16 votes in Ohio, etc. Of 
the Winter apples, the Baldwin received 17 
votes from 17 authorities in New-England, and 
the same in New-York, while it received no 
votes at the West; the Yellow Bellflower stands 
highest there. These votes were from such good 
authorities that the above lists may be taken 
as a very fair indication of what are the best va¬ 
rieties of apples in the different sections named. 
A large number of the varieties were recom¬ 
mended, but we omit all that did not receive at 
least two votes. Each authority gave a list of 
the best six Winter apples (including 1 sweet,) 
five Autumn varieties, and four Summer varie¬ 
ties. The table gives the total number of votes 
for each variety—single votes being omitted. 
