iee 
qrtiK: r.ura.i> new-yorker 
FRUITS FOR NEW ENGLAND. 
For the Smaller Orchards. 
As time passes, the Baldwin apple 
stands out more and more distinctively 
as the leader among Winter varieties. 
It is a large cropper on alternate years, 
while some trees somehow acquire the 
odd-year habit; and the tendency toward 
annual cropping may be enhanced ap¬ 
preciably by regular enriching of the 
ground. An orchard ^of three acres 
which had seen much neglect came into 
my hands and I had the satisfaction of 
seeing it come up wonderfully by means 
of the wood ashes from the house and a 
Spring application of the manure of the 
family cow and one horse, besides the 
poultry droppings. Such parts as suc¬ 
cessively became the site of the kitchen 
garden made excessive wood growths 
and set over-sized crops, which largely 
fell before maturity, being deficient in 
color and flavor. I learned to favor a 
continual sod for the orchard. I have 
heard theories as regards the number 
of varieties of the Baldwin, but I recog¬ 
nize only one, which varies according 
to environment. Adjacent to swamps, 
they are of irregular size and shape, 
tending to ribbed, coarse of flesh and 
lack of the finest flavor. The Baldwin 
is a dry land sort, and will yield fine 
crops where others would come to noth¬ 
ing. Here at 1,000 feet elevation they 
redden to their best, and if picking is 
delayed until frosts have been followed 
by mild freezes—say until the middle 
of October—when departed leaves and 
clear air have allowed the sun’s direct 
rays to get in their work and the blush 
has deepened to a uniform red, then it 
is that this famous culinary sort be¬ 
comes king of dessert apples. We must 
not confound this maturing process with 
ripening.* If picked at this stage and 
kept properly very close to the freezing 
point, actual ripening may be delayed 
until the moderating temperatures of 
approaching Spring begin to make the 
green skin yellow. Actual ripening of 
the Baldwin takes place in the orchard 
if grown far to the south of New Eng¬ 
land, and it thus becomes an Autumn 
variety. But in the North we may have 
them ripe by mid-Winter in a warm 
cellar, or by proper control of tempera¬ 
tures we may put them upon the mar¬ 
ket in April or even May, and then in 
the delicious freshly ripened condition. 
Where all the old-time favorites have 
developed some inseparable weakness or 
defect, the Baldwin alone remains the 
one dependable family or commercial 
apple for universal planting. The Bald¬ 
win stands first among all varieties in 
resistance to freezing, coming un¬ 
harmed through one or two slight nips 
which would spell ruin to a Spy or 
Greening. In this peculiarity only the 
Roxbury Russet compares with the 
Baldwin. However, the Russet is not 
to be considered a staple sort, for the 
dealers are aware and everyone who 
sets an orchard should know that a 
Russet is not wanted until May, or 
when this market is clear of all other 
descriptions of apples, and even then 
the demand is uncertain. I dismiss the 
topic of Winter apples with a reminder 
to the farmers of New England—there 
is no substitute in sight for the Bald¬ 
win. Let no one think that a tree, of 
whatever variety, can be profitably de¬ 
veloped without generous treatment, in¬ 
cluding soil cultivation and nourish¬ 
ment. It harms a young orchard either 
to grow or carry off from the surround¬ 
ing soil crops which we may class as 
weeds so far as the orchard is consid¬ 
ered. But once our Baldwin tree has 
completely occupied the ground, its 
shape discouraging others’ growth to a 
large extent, it may hoe its row with 
the best of them, producing fine and 
abundant crops in sod, even under con¬ 
ditions which would make a failure of 
other sorts. 
The Rhode Island Greening proves 
the Baldwin’s nearest competitor, an 
apple of prime quality, a generous crop¬ 
per, but a comparatively poor keeper 
and subject to various blights; and for 
one person who knows and appreciates 
its really fine character the dozen that 
constitutes the buying public will take 
a Ben Davis or any old thing, so that 
it is red. For a single row of trees I 
would plant them 30 or 33 feet apart; 
for continuous orchard, 40 feet each 
way. Some would say if the soil is 
poor, trees will be smaller, and so plant 
nearer; but I hold to the generous dis¬ 
tance, and if soil is poor, so much 
more do trees need territory to extend 
root growth and get sustenance. 
I would urge the general planting of 
Winter varieties only. The prevalence 
of the apple maggot in New England j 
has dwindled the sales of Summer ap¬ 
ples to a very small proportion of the 
former demand, so I would say to any 
who contemplate an orchard, plant very 
few Summer or Autumn sorts, and ad¬ 
visedly of those. The tender-fleshed 
sorts and consequently the most de¬ 
licious, are the most susceptible to the 
maggot; and the Porter, Garden Royal 
and the early sweet kinds generally will 
be unfit to use from the inroads of this 
pest. Among those most resistant are 
the Williams, Red Astrachan, Yellow 
Transparent and Gravenstein. The lat¬ 
ter follows the other three in season 
and is the staple Autumn variety, de¬ 
licious either for dessert or culinary 
purposes. The Astrachan we may set 
down as the staple early sort, a produc¬ 
tive bearer, rather tart and the best of 
all for jelly; a good seller from its red 
color; that is, red when grown with 
sunny exposure. As a dessert kind, 
some find its tartness distressing to the 
stomach. Much better in this respect is 
the Yellow Transparent, which is a 
growing favorite and one of the earliest 
varieties to come into bearing. The 
Williams could hardly be over-praised 
for its general beauty, being deep red 
when grown under sunny conditions, 
this red often penetrating to the flesh, 
with an agreeable flavor, not especially 
tart, and an aroma which surpasses any 
apple of my acquaintance. The Wil¬ 
liams is a good dependable sort to plant 
for early market and a better shipper 
than the other two I have named for 
Summer use. A suitable selection for 
planting the home place, to give abund¬ 
ance of fruit for a family 10 months 
of the year, would be as follows: One 
tree each of Yellow Transparent, Wil¬ 
liams, Gravenstein, Rhode Island Green¬ 
ing, Roxburg Russet and Baldwin; and 
the six trees; two or three-year size, 
and of best quality, should not cost 
more than one dollar for the lot, be¬ 
sides transportation. 
Whether pears will pay to grow cora- 
mercially is a local question. The large 
cities consume a great many, but the 
handling and transportation constitute a 
leading factor in the marketing. Pears 
are very perishable as compared with 
apples, and as the trade does not like 
to handle green fruit, and a pear is 
“gone” at once on ripening, to grow 
pears on a paying basis calls for care¬ 
ful investigation before planting. Most 
small towns and villages are over-sup¬ 
plied from trees planted in lawns and 
gardens, and the best of these will be 
purchased at nominal price by some 
local merchant who gathers and ships 
at a good profit. The inferior kinds, as 
the Buffum, will not sell at any price. 
Clapp’s Favorite, Bartlett, Beurre Bose 
and Seckel are generally in active de¬ 
mand. For home use I would add to 
this list Buerre Giffard and Tyson, first 
for extra early and the other for can¬ 
ning and pickling. 
Of much more consideration than 
pears are plums and peaches, where 
they can be successfully grown. Hardly 
a locality in New England is amply 
supplied with these, and shipments are 
generally outward from wholesaling 
centers to town and village. With the 
prevailing difficulty and uncertainty in 
producing peaches, the plum should be 
more generally grown and would to a 
large extent prove an acceptable sub¬ 
stitute for the peach. I *believe that 
New England will yet do much in plum : 
culture. The European sorts have had 
their day, and what of discouragement 
the curculio did not effect the black 
knot did. The Japanese and American 
strains and their hybrids promise to 
succeed where the others failed. In 
living in Western New York and learn¬ 
ing to appreciate the prune, I often 
wondered why we never hear of prunes 
in New England. When visiting the 
Experiment Station at Geneva I was 
struck with the delicious quality of two 
rare varieties of the prune—better than 
any plum, in my estimation—known as 
the Tennant and Tragedy. Such qual¬ 
ity, if offered in New England, would 
reconcile us to the absence of peaches. 
Every home garden should have at least 
a tree each of the Burbank and Abund¬ 
ance plums. 
And cherries—for what is home with¬ 
out a cherry tree? This is about the 
only fruit without a serious pest—and 
one around which cluster the fondest 
associations of childhood. Because 
more thrifty and sturdy growing as to 
tree, the sour kinds are most worth 
while, being sweet enough for dessert 
when really ripe and the finest for can¬ 
ning. As a child I always admired the 
considerate act of those who planted 
the cherry along the street curb as a 
shade, convenient and tolerably safe for 
night-before-the-Fourth marauders. 
Massachusetts. f. w. proctor. 
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THE UNITED FACTORIES COMPANY 
137 United Factories Bldg., Cleveland, Ohio 
|Y 
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Front Our Farms to Yours 
