' 
VoL LX. No. 2666. 
NEW YORK, MARCH 2, 1901. 
*1 PER YEAR. 
the lessons of an orchard. 
BEST varieties FOB NEW ENGLAND. 
Can We Beat the Baldwin ? 
an old MAN’S ORCHARD.—One of my earliest 
recollections, about 40 years ago, was the planting 
of the apple trees. In spite of some neighbors’ mis¬ 
givings, my father being then past 50, he did live to 
enjoy its fruiting, and died two years ago, having 
■during a term of 30 years largely derived his living 
from this source. A hint to those, and many belong 
to this class, who at an age much younger still fancy 
themselves too old to plant an orchard. I know of 
no branch of farming here in New England which 
promises so alluring a return for a like investment. 
An orchard once grown and come into bearing, there 
is no crop growing above or below the surface which 
demands so little timely labor. This orchard, which 
has recently come into my hands, shows the evident 
results of neglect. The land it occupies had been 
carefully farmed the first 20 years, else it could hardly 
have survived the almost total neglect of the last 20, 
and still less have given the 
fair crops it has often borne. 
Besides this, it has generally 
been mown each year, al¬ 
though yielding, as a rule, of 
late years, a light crop. To 
pasture the orchard after cut¬ 
ting the grass would seem al¬ 
most like adding insult to in¬ 
jury; but I have found this 
system, in the two years’ time 
I have practiced it, to show 
improvement in both grass 
and fruit. 
THE BALDWIN APPLE.— 
Of the 250 trees originally 
planted, about 10 places are 
now vacant. A block of 100 
trees are Baldwins, and of the 
remaining 140, there are 40 
more of the same variety, in¬ 
terspersed among other kinds, 
both early and late, thus al¬ 
lowing a conclusive test of va¬ 
rieties. As compared with 
Rhode Island Greening, Rox- 
bury Russet and Northern 
Spy, the standard market va¬ 
rieties of our section, the 
Baldwin has proved by far the 
most reliable yielder. This 
has proved true throughout 
up more points of excellence than anything yet tested. 
If what is known already of the Sutton Beauty could 
be thoroughly ventilated by an exchange of experi¬ 
ences, it might prove favorable to a more general 
planting as a substitute. Its finer quality would give 
it place as a first-rate market sort. In beauty of 
shape and color it yields in no way to the Baldwin. 
It has been declared to be a better keeper. There is 
a vast difference in quality between a Baldwin picked 
by the middle of September and immediately put 
away in a dark cellar, and one allowed to hang upon 
the tree during the succeeding three or four weeks. 
The lack of discriminating taste among buyers would 
probably make the early-picked more profitable, as, 
conditions of storing the same, the latter would prove 
the better keeper. The Baldwin, when so thoroughly 
ripened upon the tree as to be red upon all sides, and 
have also a rose tinge within the flesh, becomes al¬ 
most a dessert fruit. But as generally handled it has 
a harsh acid flavor, much inferior to the Rhode Island 
Greening. As a business proposition, there is no com¬ 
parison to be had between a red apple and a green 
HENRY E. VAN DEMAN, POMOLOGICAL EDITOR OE THE R. N.- Y. Fig. 58. See Page 143 
the history of the orchard, both under conditions of 
thrift and neglect. Strange as it may seem, the Bald¬ 
win gives the fairest and best-colored fruit in that 
portion of the orchard where the soil is naturally 
thinnest, at the top of the slope; while at one part 
which borders upon swampy land, where the soil is 
deeper and more productive of vegetation, the apples, 
while larger, are no more abundant, are not so .shape¬ 
ly nor high colored, but more generally gnarly and 
affected with dry rot. Probably this is to be account¬ 
ed for by the more favorable exposure upon the high¬ 
er land, the smaller size of the trees contributing also 
to this end. Fine quality in fruit depends largely up¬ 
on the action of the sun. My location is about 1,000 
feet above sea level, and the rarer air here is com¬ 
paratively cool and free from the sun-excluding mists 
of lower altitudes. I recently had occasion to com¬ 
pare fruit with some from a dozen miles away, grown 
at an altitude of about 500 feet, and the test was much 
in my favor, not only in size, but the difference in 
color was very striking. 
BALDWIN SUBSTITUTES.-Still speaking of the 
Baldwin variety, while it has several defects, it sums 
one. This is one of the triumphs of the esthetic, that 
the average buyer of apples is bound to accept a busi¬ 
ness lie in the shape of a red appie which looks good 
in preference to the truth under a homely skin. A 
bright yellow is not so bad, and so beautiful an apple 
as the Peck Pleasant for strictly dessert uses, handled 
direct and in small packages, might prove a good 
thing. I have often been tempted to experiment in 
this direction. The Roxbury Russet has always en¬ 
joyed an exclusive season in spite of its ugly coat, 
filling a demand after all beautiful apples are out of 
market. I question whether our improved methods 
of storing will not allow fine-colored apples of better 
quality to displace it. When a more expert age is 
ushered in, allowing us to enjoy so good an apple as 
the Gravenstein through the Winter and Spring, then 
the list of varieties may be much simplified. 
AUTUMN APPLES.—So far as my experience ex¬ 
tends I do not know of a Winter variety but what 
suffers in comparison with the delicious quality of 
our best Autumn sorts. Perhaps the Northern Spy, 
among our eastern varieties, sums up as many points 
of superiority as any apple; yet this is one of those 
exclusives that call for the highest conditions of cul¬ 
ture, of thinning its many small branches, and highly 
enriching the ground, and perhaps after all finding it 
received with scant appreciation. If the Baldwin is 
to be supplanted as the most profitable commercial 
apple, whether for export or home use, it must be by 
a variety just as productive and as thrifty under ad¬ 
verse conditions. It should be a little earlier to red¬ 
den, hanging later to the tree. Its habit of growth 
should be less spreading, as it is one of the most sub¬ 
ject to breaking down under the loads of ice that con¬ 
dense from our moist east winds, which we have 
learned to expect each season. But as to the coming 
market variety, it may have no better flavor than the 
Baldwin, for the buying public is willing to taste with 
its eyes, and does not promise to change in this re¬ 
spect, so far as we may judge. 
THE EARLY VARIETIES.—What is true of Win¬ 
ter apples as a profitable farm crop does not neces¬ 
sarily follow with the earlier varieties. To market 
the former advantageously one has the whole season 
before him. The market for Summer and Fall varie¬ 
ties has suffered seriously by 
the inroads of the Apple mag¬ 
got, which infests all early 
kinds indiscriminately. The 
demand for all early kinds 
has lessened on this account. 
My early apples have always 
been sold in my home town, 
and I am in a position to note 
the wide difference in sales. 
Where a bushel or a barrel of 
Porters could be turned oft at 
a sale, a peck or at most a 
half-bushel is now the limit. 
As a safeguard against loss 
by the maggot I recommend 
my customers to take but a 
week’s supply, and then much 
time must be taken to select 
fruit of that degree of hard¬ 
ness which can be guaranteed 
good. As a result of this con¬ 
dition of things, I have wish¬ 
ed that my early apples were 
limited to a family supply. It 
is apparent that the farmer 
who sets any great number of 
early apples does the same 
with much risk as compared 
with the standard late or 
Winter varieties. The mar¬ 
ket should be studied most 
carefully in advance of planting and then only with 
some well-defined aim, either to supply the local 
trade or else to compete in the wholesale markets 
of the large cities. The large grower of some certain 
approved variety has the advantage in early apples, 
as he can afford to take the necessary trouble to be¬ 
come thoroughly familiar with the conditions of the 
market. I have a conviction that the Yellow Trans¬ 
parent is the most valuable extra-early variety. It 
is still so comparatively rare that it does not promise 
to become a drug in the market for several years to 
come. The Williams, so favorably known around 
Boston, as the catalogues are wont to afllrm, should 
be known from one end of the country to the other, 
if adaptable to the different sections. The Graven¬ 
stein will not suffer in comparison with any apple 
of its season. These three kinds cover the season, 
from August to October, and would be my first choice 
if planting by the single tree or by the acre. Of 
about 40 Kinds represented in my orchard besides 
those mentioned the less said the better. 
NURSERYMEN AND TREES.—But I am speaking 
of my own familiar section of the country, fully aware 
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