Vol. LXI. No. 2759. 
NEW YORK, DECEMBER 13, 1902. 
81 PER YEAR. 
BRIEF TALKS ABOUT FRUITS 
Apple, Peach and Pear Notes. 
THE MOTHER APPLE.—The Mother apple, shown 
at Fig. 334, is one of the good old sorts which has 
been pretty nearly crowded off the list in the modern 
commercial development of the apple business. It 
does not have the qualities of the commercial apple. 
It is everything which the Ben Davis is not. The 
tree is a somewhat weakly grower, especially in the 
nursery. It is hard to make nice nursery trees of this 
variety. The best way to grow it is to top-graft it 
on some suitable stock like Spy or Tolman. We are 
beginning to realize that we have made a great mis¬ 
take by discarding a number of fine varieties on ac¬ 
count of their unsatisfactory growth in the nursery. 
We have allowed the nurserymen to dictate our va¬ 
rieties to us, but we are gradually growing out of 
that now. Another defect of the Mother apple is that 
it is a shy bearer, and that the fruit falls rather early 
from the tree before it is ripe. The apple is only 
fair-sized and though red is not so gaudy as the Ben 
Davis or the Baldwin. When it comes to flavor and 
aroma, however, I believe there is nothing else in the 
whole list of apples which 
can equal it. I think it 
stands at the head of all 
our American apples in 
this respect. I cannot 
now think of an exception. 
Spitzenberg is fine, Cox 
Orange is fine; and a well- 
grown Blenheim or thor¬ 
oughly ripe Ribston makes 
it seem almost impossible 
to get anything better. 
Even King and Spy, which 
we get every day almost, 
can hardly be criticised on 
the point of flavor. Yet I 
think Mother easily sur¬ 
passes them all. Perhaps 
this is on account of its 
rarity. One very seldom 
sees the apple at all, and 
even less frequently finds 
well-grown specimens of 
it. There can be no doubt, 
however, that the present 
revival of interest in fine 
amateur apples will bring 
such sorts as Mother and Primate back into favor. 
For the home garden it may be very safely recom¬ 
mended. I do not know what its local adaptations 
and peculiarities are, but I have seen excellent speci¬ 
mens from nearly all parts of New England, so I 
know that it can be grown in this country. 
The following technical description, made from 
specimens grown on the Massachusetts Agricultural 
College grounds, will give a more exact idea of its 
characteristics: Fruit oval conic, slightly unequal, 
small to medium in size, cavity deep, rounded, leather- 
cracked, stem variable, basin medium deep, smooth, 
calyx small, closed, color deep dark red washed and 
obscurely striped on a yellow ground, the yellow be¬ 
ing almost wholly covered, dots many, russet, bloom 
moderate, skin tender, flesh yellow, crisp, melting, 
juicy, aromatic, core small, closed, flavor rich aro¬ 
matic subacid, quality superlative;season first half 
of October. f. a. watjgh. 
TWO NORTH JERSEYMEN ON KIEFFER 
PEARS.—Our experience here in Kieffer pear grow¬ 
ing shows a wide range in prices. On high sandy 
soil (white or yellow) the fruit grew clear, fair and 
firm, with generally a blush, and allowed early ship¬ 
ments, or was bought up by shippers and storage 
men. The prices were profitable, from $1 a barrel in 
the orchard to $2.25 in New York market. On heavy 
soil the fruit as usual was rusty, with no color, and 
on old orchards (15 to 18 years old) small and knotty, 
and rotted badly. Such stuff sold as low as 50 cents 
a barrel in New York market for open heads. Look¬ 
ing at it from this point of view it seems as though 
on young orchards on sandy soil there will be more 
or less profit almost any year; on heavy soil and 
aged orchards a very poor outlook, except when a 
scarcity. e. beekman. 
It is very evident that during the past few years 
there have been too many Kieffer pears for the mar¬ 
ket, and there are very likely to be more in the fu¬ 
ture, for there have been many trees planted that are 
not producing much fruit yet. To realize a fair profit 
to the grower new markets will have to be found. 
I believe that it will be a profitable pear to grow in 
the future if the grower has suitable ground. If he 
has not that kind of land he would better let them 
alone. Clay soil will not grow Kieffer pears that will 
command a good price in the market when the market 
is well supplied with fruit grown on sandy or gravelly 
soil, which produces better quality and much more 
attractive on account of color. Trees should be plant¬ 
ed 25 feet apart, so that they will have room to 
spread, and not grow so tall, which makes it expen¬ 
sive to gather the fruit. The product needs sun and 
air to make it good salable fruit. As the tree grows 
older the fruit is less attractive. I have related to 
you ray experience in growing Kieffer pears for a 
period of more than 20 years, and there was much 
more profit in them in the past than there will be in 
the future. d. d. denise. 
THE TRIUMPH PEACH.—We have noticed that 
H. E. Van Deman has frequently recommended the 
Triumph for market purposes. We are sure he must 
have seen and known it where it was grown under 
more favorable conditions than we have here in 
southern Connecticut, for it is a failure here. The 
tree is vigorous, productive and hardy, but the fruit 
invariably rots before ripening; that is most of the 
crop does. In the seasons of 1891 and 1892, which 
were wet, the entire crop rotted on the trees before 
ripe. In 1890 we had almost no rain from June to 
October; that year about 25 per cent ripened before 
decaying. We have a large block of them five and six 
years old, but shall plant no more, and if it behaves 
elsewhere as it does here we would not advise others 
to plant it. Our experience with the extra early va¬ 
rieties has taught us that they have three serious 
faults, liability to rot, poor quality, and most of them 
are clingstones. It would be a grand thing if some 
one would introduce a really good early variety of 
peach for market purposes. geo. f. peatt & sox. 
Connecticut. 
SMALL APPLE PACKAGE; BEN DAVIS.—While 
I know that you are right on the bushel-box question 
in many points, yet I feel that laboring men could 
save millions of dollars by buying in bulk as much as 
possible of such things as will keep. I see them buy¬ 
ing a one-fourth pound of tea, one-half pound of 
meat, a five or 10-pound sack of meal, a dime’s worth 
of spice, etc., and have it “charged” of course. They 
will always have to have it charged —never will catch 
up, for I can go with cash and buy in quantity for 
half the money or less. On the other side, where 
there is an abundance there is a tendency to waste 
it, and of course one must not buy more than can be 
used before it perishes. I didn’t mention the seller’s 
side. I know that the fancy package sells. In grapes 
I sell at two cents per pound in bulk (sugar barrels) 
to Germans for wine, or in market baskets holding 20 
pounds at 2 y 2 cents. I like 
to give a buyer something 
to eat for his money— 
something besides pack¬ 
age. But my neighbor 
buys little 314 -pound tasty 
boxes, puts his card and a 
piece of ribbon on them 
and sells them at five or 
six for a dollar. My grapes 
are as good as my neigh¬ 
bor’s, and for the life of 
me I cannot see why the 
buyer prefers to pay two 
prices for his grapes. But 
they do it, and will do it. 
I judge that the Ben Davis 
apple will continue to sell 
for the same reason—or 
lack of reason. I have 
abused the Ben Davis for 
30 years to the best of my 
ability, but have been only 
“blowing against the 
wind.” There is lots of 
talk about the great su¬ 
periority of the Ben Davis 
apples as grown in “home of the big red apple,” 
southern Illinois, Missouri, etc. This does not deceive 
me. It is only as the difference between rotten eggs. 
Pretty soon the Gano will be advertised as “so much 
superior” to its parent, but I have tasted of many 
seedlings of the old fraud, and it is practically six of 
one and half a dozen of the other. When an apple 
is a Ben Davis seedling that’s enough for me; no, 
thank you, I’m not apple hungry. I could name a 
number of these seedlings. Yes, the old sinner, Ben 
Davis, has cut the eating of apples in two in the mid¬ 
dle and maybe as low as the knees. b. 
Illinois. 
BEN DAVIS AND TREE FRAUDS.—I cannot tell 
you how much I enjoy reading your paper, and though 
agreeing with nearly everything there, I cannot help 
but take issue with you on old Ben Davis. If you 
cannot raise a good Ben Davis in New York you 
ought not to condemn a northwestern Arkansas Ben 
Davis. I would rather eat a Ben Davis raised in 
northwestern Arkansas than a New York Baldwin, 
and have no fear but that we can find sale for our 
large, smooth, well-colored and well-flavored Ben 
Davis as raised in the Ozark country of Arkansas. 
But your New York Ben Davis—bah! I can’t imagine 
THE MOTHER APPLE. Fig. 334 
