have expressed themselves satisfied again 
and again, that the varieties in this list are 
the best suited for this climate, and the most 
profitable to the grower. 
These are all medium sized apples. They 
are hardy; all of them stood the test of those 
terrible winters of 1856, ’56 and’57—a pretty 
good record. They are vigorous, rapid 
growers. They come early in bearing; gen¬ 
erally, with good management, the third 
year after planting. They are regular, year¬ 
ly bearers, and never fail, always belonging 
to the Class A, 1. And lastly, they are prof¬ 
itable, as we know from experience that no 
other varieties fill the orchardist’s barrels 
and purse so quickly. 
an equal number of thousands of bushels of 
as large, handsome and excellent apples. 
And the growing conviction of the pre¬ 
eminent adaptat ion of these breezy hills and 
bluffs to apple growing, secures a rapid ex¬ 
tension of the area plan ted.to this fruit. 
Ah in all places, there is here great choice 
of varieties. Nearly all the summer kinds 
do well, but the Early Harvest and Red 
Astrachan have given the most uniform 
satisfaction; next to them stand Red June, 
Keswick Codling and Maiden's Blush per- 
Autumn varieties are noL much 
planted except by mistake, as the market is 
not good cither North or 
South in Autumn. But many 
Northern Winter kinds ripen 
in the Fall here, and many of 
llg^k. tins earlier plantations have 
ySpafijai disappointed their owners. 
Tin- Baldwin and Northern 
Spy are often marketed in 
August, being perfectly ma- 
tnre 11 not mellow; while 
j'M UML the Yellow Bellflower and 
II I ill fi t Jonathan are in use. with us 
|||| IK HR during October and Novcm- 
^ er ‘ - < ^ rnon o kinds keeping 
well through the winter the 
Wm m! Wiucsap, itawle’B Janet, Gil- 
tJmjmiMw pin and Willow Twig may 
|||||^> / be named as largely planted. 
More recently much attention 
has been given to very late 
keepers, and Nick a jack and 
May (of Myers) are regarded 
with a good deal of favor; while experi¬ 
ments are being made with a long list of 
Southern varieties, several of which give 
much promise of value. 
There is one important particular in which 
a large portion of our apple orchardists in 
the West are making a sad mistake, and that 
is in their low standard of quality. Plunlers 
are too much guided by considerations of im¬ 
mediate profit, and the only concern is as to 
what will sell best now ; and in our western 
markets size and color sell all fruits. The 
taste of consumers seems to be very unex¬ 
acting, ami apples like the Ben Davis, which 
is excellent in every respect except in excel¬ 
lence, and in this stands at the very bottom 
of the scale, will outsell 
Greenings, Bellflowers or 
Newtown Pippins. The 
\ Winter Pcnnoclc, which is 
a large, fine-looking apple, 
\ unsurpassed hi worth lesa- 
\ ness, is one of the most sala- 
\ blc in Western and South- 
\ \ cm markets. But will the 
j \ public ever remain so ab- 
/ \ surdly uncritical ? I think 
/ ] I not, and therefore believe 
J ■ j that orchardists everywhere 
* j will do wisely when they 
/ follow the good judgment 
_- / of the large Eastern grow- 
/ era In respect to the .high 
quality of their leading 
kinds, and plant most large¬ 
ly those of solid excellence, 
equal to the Rhode Island 
Greening, the Baldwin and the Spilzenburg. 
South Pass, Ill., 1870. P. E. 
themselves by fruiting, thus leaving the per¬ 
manent orchard with trees thirty feet apart. 
Apple trees are cheap, planting on the prairie 
is not expensive, and the after cultivation 
is but slightly increased, the trees arts greatly 
benefited by the mutual protection, and the 
orchard becomes remunerative in half the 
time taken with the old methods. The plan 
of close planting is equally adapted to the 
North and South; possessing, indeed, very 
•great advantages in the shade given to trees 
and ground in the long, hot summers of the 
latter. It also has as great advantages for | haps, 
pear as for apple orchards, 
rWricttlturf 
onto 
ORCHARD QUESTIONS, 
WEALTHY AND MOLLIE APPLES, 
G. Avery, Waterford, Pa., writes, asking 
how to improve an old orchard of natural 
fruit, the trees of which, by pruning away 
the lower branches from time to time, have 
become so tall as to render it difficult to 
gather the fruit, which, when gathered, is 
small and of little value. The trees were 
planted in 1824, among stumps and roots, at 
distances of about two rods each, covering 
some six acres. Soil, dry clay and gravel. 
He asks if he can cut the trees down and 
raise a sprout from the root; or if a sprout 
can be found growing from the side of a tree 
four or five feet from the ground, should he 
cut away the main body just above the 
sprout and then graft the sprout. He says 
lie saw in the Rural New-Yorker an ac¬ 
count of a man renewing his orchard twice 
in his life-time, but he has forgotten how. 
Our advice in the premises is to cultivate 
the ground thoroughly by plowing and ma¬ 
nuring among the old trees, and then to 
plant two-year-old, thrifty trees of approved 
valuable sorts, at, equal distances among the 
old orchard. Leave the okl trees to bear 
what they will for, say four years, at which 
time the young trees will produce from half 
a peck ton half bushel each. Then cutaway 
the old trees, root and branch. Removing 
old, worthless native seedlings by means of 
cutting back, waiting for new shoots, and 
then engrafting, can he done; hut it is a far 
more expensive practice and not as satisfac¬ 
tory in the end as planting anew. 
We have no recollection of the account of 
the man renewing his orchard twice in his 
life-time, which you say was published in the 
Rural; but we think the man wh* t having 
once acquired a good orchard, permits it to 
become diseased and valueless, so as to again 
require a systematic course of renewal, must 
he a careless, neglectful cultivator, and not 
the kind of man to devote the labor and care 
necessary to such renewal; or else he must 
have been a man like Methuselah, of so 
long a life as to embrace two generations of 
apple trees, each of which may he counted 
at, say one hundred years. 
The man who owns an old orchard, the 
limbs of which have become moss-grown, 
with dead branches, and thickened np with 
water spseftts, can of cotune improve had 
renew it; and the time to attend to such 
work is just as soon as the frost is fairly out 
of the ground and the sap commences to 
circulate freely. Go to work then with 
pruning saw and knife, cut. away all dead 
branches, shorten back nil long, ungainly, 
over-reaching limbs, cut away all the water 
shoots except where one or more may he 
wanted to fill up the form of the tree. Cover 
all the wounds mnde by pruning with a 
painting of gum shellac. Scrape away all 
the old dead bark nud moss and wash the 
whole tree in strong lye made from wood 
ashes. Manure the ground well and plow, 
turning the first furrow light, say three 
inches deep, toward the tree; then let the 
plow run deeper and deeper as you getaway 
from the tree, until the last furrows are at 
least ten inches deep. Sow corn or peas 
broadcast, harrow them in, and, when they 
have grown one and a half feet high, plow 
them under with a furrow three inches deep, 
turning away from the trees. Spread on 
ten loads of well rotted manure to the acre 
and one and a half bushels of plaster, (gyp¬ 
sum,) harrow thoroughly and sow turnips. 
In the fail, when the turnips arc fit to pull, 
pull the best and plow under the balance, 
turning the furrow toward the trees. From 
time to time during the month of June the 
trees should, be watched, and any sprouts 
that appear where not wanted should be 
ruhbecl away. 
BY F. R. ELLIOTT. 
Tiie Northwest, although at this time 
largely interested in the new seedling ap¬ 
ples from the Siberian crab, has also a claim 
by Peter M. Gideon, as the originator of 
two varieties possessing great excellence in 
size, beauty and quality of fruit, combined 
with a hardihood of tree that equals the 
veriest crab. The quality of the fruits and 
their size cannot be disputed ; hut 1 am in¬ 
clined to the opinion that the hardihood of 
the trees, in order to sustain the claim, will 
need a test, out on the prairie or in some.po- 
sition where the softening influence of a 
large body of water is not felt. 
To J, B- Shearman, Rockford, Ill., I am 
indebted for specimens of Mr. Gideon’s two 
new productions, the Wealthy and Mollie 
apples. 
The Wealthy was figured in outline in 
the Rural New-Yorker early in the year 
18(19, from specimens then before me; but 
the specimens now received are very much 
larger, and truly a beautiful fruit, it should 
be extensively tested in every locality in the 
United States. The description heretofore 
given is good in all respects but its form, 
which should read roundish conked, instead 
of roundish oblate. 
Mollie is an entirely new sort, now first 
sent out. It originated with Peter M. 
Gideon, of Lake Minnetonka, Minnesota, 
from seed of the Duchess of Oldcnhurgh. 
Fruit medium, oblate, ribbed or angled; 
light pale yellow green, with a faint spot, or 
touch of blush in sun, scattering, small, 
rough, aerolc dots; stem short, slender; 
cavity open, deep, downy ; calyx open, seg¬ 
ments erect, divided, partially reflexed; 
basin uneven, abrupt, rather broad, deep; 
flesh whitish, breaking, half tender, very 
mild sub-acid, almost sweet; very good; 
core small, hollow ; seeds very short. Sea¬ 
son November and December, but said to 
keep until May. 
ORIGIN OF HIGBY SWEET, 
Seeing a description of an old, familiar 
apple in t he “ Agricultural Report of 18G7,” 
and also in the Rural New-Yorker of 
September last, under the name of “ Higby 
Sweet,” I write you its history, that the 
pomological w r orid may he correctly advised 
as to facts. 
in the fall of 1810 Ezra Woodworth, 
brother to my father’s father, in moving 
from Vermont to Ohio saved the seed of the 
best apples he found on his journey, confi¬ 
dent. that he would get better fruit from 
selected seed than from seed taken indis¬ 
criminately. The sequel proved this to his 
entire satisfaction, for he often remarked he 
had not a poor apple in his orchard. 
lie planted his seeds that fall in Williams* 
field, Ashtabula Co., Ohio. From these 
seeds, then and there planted, originated the 
apple in question. It was propagated in 
that early day from sprouts, and my father 
had ten trees of that variety. IIigby’s 
folks obtained sprouts from our orchard, 
and some of t heir family took them to 
Trumbull Co., O., but, a few years ago. 
The statements here made I make from 
personal knowledge of the facts, except the 
planting of the seed, &c., which I have from 
the testimony of living witnesses, who often 
heard uncle Ezra make the statement. 
1 write this hoping it will set the matter 
of history right, although too late to affect 
the name of a very desirable apple. 
Rochester, Wis. N. WOOD WORTH. 
TJIF, MOl,LIE API'LE. 
In Northern Illinois apples are a reliable 
crop on all soils with good natural drainage, 
but shelter in some, manner against the high 
winds is very essential. Here are to be found 
some of the largest, orchards in the country, 
managed by men of great, energy and sagac¬ 
ity. They are a very live set, of men, who 
intend to be masters of their business, and 
they will successfully grapple with the vari¬ 
ous insect and climatic difficulties which 
constantly harrass the fruit grower. 
In Southern Illinois we find the oldest 
orchards in the West. The first settlements 
in the State were made here in the 11 Alton 
District,” and while the first generation of 
trees has generally passed away, yet many 
APPLES IN ILLINOIS, 
CHERRIES IN VERTICAL CORDONS. 
Illinois is a long State, stretching through 
five and a half degrees of latitude, and em¬ 
bracing a great variety of soils and range of 
climate. A history of apple culture here 
would probably show more failures and 
greater difficulties overcome than that of 
most other States; but this very expensive 
experience has finally taught us an amount 
of practical knowledge, which, if well ap¬ 
plied, w ill place us in the foremost, rank of 
apple - producing States. Indeed, wo are 
probably second only to New York in the 
quantity of our crop at. present; and in re¬ 
spect to quality second to nobody. 
Let it be remembered that we have in the 
Mississippi Valley n climate far more trying 
to fruit trees than is found elsewhere in the 
Union, and a soil everywhere richer than is 
known at the East; and it will be seen why 
so many Eastern varieties have failed here, 
and why the practice of Eastern methods of 
manuring, pruning and culture has so often 
proved fatal to all varieties. One of the great 
lessons learned in prairie orcharding is the 
importance of shelter. Orchards within the 
protecting influence ol our scattered forests 
in the North have, usually endured the cold 
of our severest winters, while those on the 
open prairie have suffered severely. The 
more sagacious of our farmers have been, 
and are, planting belts of timber which soon 
grow large, enough to afford much protection 
from the terrible sweep of our prairie winds. 
There arc many neighborhoods where tree 
planting lias already effected a very noticea¬ 
ble amelioration of the climate. 
Perhaps there is no greater reform in 
orchard management than out- Western one 
of close planting, which combines all the ad¬ 
vantages of shade and shelter in summer 
and winter, with greatly increased profits 
from the same acres of ground. Our most 
successful orchardists now plant four or six 
times the number of trees to the acre which 
are recommended by the standard Eastern 
authorities. The foolishness of planting 
apple trees forty or fifty feet apart cannot he 
so fully illustrated in any other way as by a 
visit to some of our great Illinois orchards 
which have been plauted on this modern 
plan. One of the most conspicuous exam¬ 
ples of the success of this method is that of 
A. R. Whit.nf.v, of Lee county. Northern 
Illinois, who has some eighteen thousand 
trees, I think, planted fifteen feet apart each 
way. After a few years of growth the trees 
in every other row are root-pruned to check 
large growth and bring into early bearing; 
and a little later the alternate trees in the 
remaining row are treated in the same man¬ 
ner. He, in this way, has three-fourths of 
the trees bearing profitable crops at an early 
age, while the remaining fourth are left to 
grow to their full size. It is the design to 
remove the root-pruned trees as soon as 
they crowd the others too much or exhaust 
The varieties best adapted for this very 
interesting mode of, culture are those of t lie 
Duke tribe, Such as the May Duke, Arch 
Duke, Empress Eugenic, Royal Duke, Nou- 
volle Royale, Ducliesse de Pulluau, and some 
others. Young pyramidal trees three feet 
apart should be planted in rows, and their 
side shoots pruned in to within two inches 
of their stems. They require the same 
summer pinching as that recommended by 
me for vertical cordon pears, and should not. 
be allowed to exceed eight or ten feet in 
height. Nothing can be more charming 
than these cordon cherry trees. I have 
at this moment trees five years old, of the 
Duke tribe, with their bright ripe fruit 
hanging close to the stem, and shining 
through the net that protects them from the 
birds. The best, of all protect ion, both from 
birds and wasps, is, however, Hay thorn’s 
netting, or coarse muslin, formed into a nar¬ 
row bottomless bag, which should be let 
down gently over the tree, so as to leave the 
leading shoots out, and tied at the bottom 
and top; Duke cherries may thus lie pre¬ 
served till August. 1 may mention here 
that with the cherry cordon trees, root- 
pruning or removal is seldom required, their 
vital force is so reduced by continuous 
pinching of the young shoots; but if a rich 
soil gives too much vigor, it, may he prac¬ 
ticed. There are a few kinds of plums, of 
upright growth, which may also be culti¬ 
vated as vertical cordons. — Hirers ’ Minia¬ 
ture Fruit Garden. 
THE MOLLIE APPLE — OUTLINE, 
orchards can be found in that neighborhood 
and at various other points in the river 
counties and among the woodlands, which 
embrace trees grand in size, and venerable 
with a half century of years. In this part of 
the State we have less prairie and more 
woodland than in the North, a greater vari¬ 
ety of soil and a milder, moister, and on the 
Whole a better climate for ft uit trees. It is 
probable that the bluff lands on the Misissip- 
pi and the Ohio, together with all that high, 
hilly, heavily timbered country commonly 
called “Lower Egypt,” furnish conditions of 
soil and climate second to no other in its 
HARDY APPLES FOR THE NORTH 
WEST. 
Mr. John W. Robson gives, in the Gale¬ 
na (III.) Gazette, a list of apples desirable for 
that section of country. As the best sum¬ 
mer apples, be names Tetofsky, Red Astra¬ 
chan, Duchess of Olden berg; as equally 
hardy, though not equal in every point, 
Carolina Red June, Bejioni, Early Pennock. 
The most desirable apples for fall are (he 
Soulard, Maiden’s 
Blush, Famcuse, 
while as a second 
choice he names Kes- 
\111 F u lion, Jonathan 
ail< l Winesap; those 
lllHailllm next * u or ^ er 
ill 'W\\\® Pomme Gris, Ragnn, 
1 1 if ft 1 Bellflower. The 
;||ij rj liaiHW for winter 
wjjmmKK Westfield Seek-no- 
further, Wagner, Gil- 
Pumpkin Sweet, and 
Talman Sweet. Ills 
selections are pre¬ 
faced as follows; 
Had such a list been presented to us twenty 
years ago, we would have been able to save 
many hundreds of dollars, and many years 
of precious time and toil. And this informa¬ 
tion is not the result of our experience alone, 
but is drawn from the experiences of some of 
the best fruit growers of this section, who 
Apple List Tor Kansns.— The Kansas Horticul¬ 
tural Society, after discussion, promulgates the 
following' as an approved list of apples for that 
locality '.—Highly recommended—Mud June. Maid¬ 
en's Blush, Lowell, Large Striped Pearmain. 
Recommended Sweet June, Early Harvest, Coop¬ 
er's Early White, Red Astrachan, Fameuae, 
Rome Reality, Hailey’s Sweet, Hays’ Wine, Hen 
Davis, Willow Twig, Gilpin’s or Little Red 
ltomunite, Jonathan, Red Winter Pearmain, 
Rawles’ Janet, Missouri Pippin, Sweet Koman- 
ite. Too Little Knmi i n—l'all Wine, Kansas Keep¬ 
er, Roman Stem,Winter Pearmain,Smith's Cider. 
For Amateur Cultivation— Ortiey or White Bell¬ 
flower. 
PEAR SUCKERS, 
W. Doolittle, Borodino, N. Y., inquires 
if there is a difference between pear trees 
dug up from suckers growing around pear 
trees and those procured from the nursery. 
We have perhaps a hundred pear trees that 
were so obtained around the fields and 
fences, fifteen or more years ago, where old 
pear trees stood, and have found no differ¬ 
ence in hardiness when similarly treated. 
Some of the nurseries near us were many 
years ago in the habit of purchasing large 
numbers—in fact all they could obtain, even 
sending their men many miles to procure 
them, growing wild around the fields and 
hedge rows; but they soon abandoned the 
practice, and now use only good seedling 
trees to graft or bud upon. 
We tliiuk trees that have been worked on 
suckers are much more liable tcy throw up 
suckers from their roots in a few years, thus 
creating a source of much labor and vexa¬ 
tion. Their roots, running very near the 
surface, are liable to be wounded in cultiva¬ 
tion, thus causing them to sucker, while, as 
far as we have noticed, the roots of seedling 
trees run deeper, and give us little trouble. 
Old Wesbury, L. I. Isaac Hicks. 
Iowa Against California Apples. — THOMAS 
Paddington, Linn Co., Iowa, has been com¬ 
paring the measurement of the California ap¬ 
ples with some of the Iowa grown—such as Yel¬ 
low Belitiower, Fall Pippin, Blue Pearmain, 
Wagner, Greening, etc., and finds little differ¬ 
ence. If he allows the Iowa apples for three 
months’ shrinkage since gathered, he thinks 
Iowa a little ahead in some varieties. He adds: 
“After twenty years experience in fruit grow¬ 
ing, I say Iowa is an apple growing State,” 
TnE WEALTHY APPLE. 
adaptation to apple culture. I think it is 
entirely safe to say, that the apples sent from 
these hills to the various pomological exhibi¬ 
tions of the country have not been excelled, 
if equaled, for size, fairness, beauty and 
flavor combined. And that it is also prudent 
to claim that no section of our country has 
ever from an equal number of trees marketed 
Kansas Fruits.— J. StaymAN. Corresponding 
Secretary Leavenworth, Kan., Hort. Soc., sends 
us the weights of specimens of fruits exhibited 
at the November meeting of sa id society, as fol¬ 
lows:—Northern Spy, 20 02 .: Tulpehocken, 19 
oz.; King of Tompkins County, 18 oz.; Yellow 
Bellflower. 13 oz.: Fulton, 13 oz.; FaJl Queen, 
13 oz.; McAffee’s Nonsuch, 12 oz.; Rhode Island 
Greening, 12oz.; Willow Twig, 10 oz.; Jonathan, 
10 02 .: and numerous other varieties iu like pro¬ 
portion. 
