42 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
Jan. 
1. Standards. —These are trees grafted on stocks of 
their own species, and pruned after the common old 
fashioned orchard style; that is, with heads five or six 
feet from the ground, and clean naked trunks. 
2. Pyramids. —These are trees grafted as standards, 
but branching out at, or very near the surface of the 
ground, and trained to a conical or 'pyramidal form— 
hence the name. 
3. Dwarf Standards. —These are the same as stand¬ 
ards, excepting the size. 
4. Half Standards. —Trees of size and form between 
standards and dwarf standards. 
5. Dwarf Pyramids. —The same as pyramids except¬ 
ing the size. 
6. Half Pyramids. —Trees of a size and form inter¬ 
mediate between pyramids and dwarf pyramids. 
7. Espaliers, and if you please, Dwarf Espaliers ; 
no description of which is necessary. These terms are 
convenient, comprehensive, and easily intelligible. 
And now that I am writing, I have a few remarks to 
make in regard to the cultivation of 
The Apple. —Our best educated fruit cultivators here 
in New-England, do not bestow such attention upon this 
inestimable fruit as it ought to receive. To the masses 
of our people, it is certainly the most important of all 
Pomona’s gifts to the regions of the temperate zone. In¬ 
deed with regard to the section of country lying between 
New-Jersey and the Ultima Thule of Yankeedom, the 
apple is the first of fruits, u and there is none second.” 
So important is the apple for culinary purposes, that, 
without either fresh or dried apples,a kitchen would cease 
to be a kitchen. Then again what a noble dessert fruit 
it is! One of the most ancient rites of New-England 
hospitality is to set a dish of ripe apples before a friend. 
How many associations of childhood entwine themselves 
around this noble product of the orchard ! The New- 
England farm-house of the days of our fathers—the 
brave roaring fire of blazing logs piled one upon another 
in the glorious old, honest, broad open fire-place - the 
row of roasting apples spluttering upon the capacious 
stone hearth, and the good old grandmother at her little 
spinning-wheel, buzzing away in the corner! 
Again—what a healthful and refreshing beverage is, or 
rather might he, made of this fruit! for it well known 
that with proper care and attention, and from suitable 
varieties of grafted apples, a cider may he made which 
will improve like wine by age, until it almost equals in 
richness the most highly esteemed products of foreign 
vineyards. * 
But to return to my subject. Wishing some months 
ago to furnish a friend with a select list for an orchard 
of one hundred market apple trees, I was greatly sur- 
* Our esteemed correspondent will permit us to express our views 
in relation to the general use of such wines, in the language of a 
distinguished individual (P. T. Barnum) as published in the Western 
Horticultural Review:—“Water is the best thing to quench thrist—it 
is the best to aid digestion—it forms a large portion of the human 
body—it is necessary to our life and well-being—and, although I 
trust I am not a bigot, I, as a matter of duty, as well as choice, es¬ 
chew with all my heart, all substitutes for that glorious element which 
a kind Heavenly Father has provided so bountifully for every living 
thing, and without which the entire animal and vegetable creation 
must perish.” Eds. 
prised at the narrow limits within which I was compelled 
to confine myself. I was tempted to recommend to set the 
entire orchard with the Baldwin only; for this has proved 
to be by far the most profitable market apple hitherto 
cultivated in the Eastern States. But there are obvious¬ 
ly some objections—at least so it seemed to my friend— 
to being confined to only one variety; and so after a great 
deal of deliberation, I recommended that one-half or 
more of the hundred trees should be Baldwins , and that 
the balance should consist of R. I. Greenings , Hubbards - 
ton Nonsuch , Roxbury Russet, and Porter . 
I hesitated to insert the Roxbury Russet, because it is 
not a very good bearer, and the fruit seems to be dege¬ 
nerating, three apples in four being knerly, wormy, or 
otherwise unmarketable. Still I retain it as being the 
only late keeping apple that I could recommend for ge¬ 
neral cultivation. 
We have many other fine apples, I am glad to ack¬ 
nowledge. The Early Williams, for instance, is a beau¬ 
tiful, large /7 excellent fruit, but it is a mortal slow grow¬ 
er. The Early Sweet Bough is large, handsome, pro¬ 
ductive, and the tree grows well ; but, as for all other 
sweetings, there is only a limited demand for it, most peo¬ 
ple considering such apples as valuable merely for culina¬ 
ry purposes. The Duchesse of Oldenhurgh, Gravenstein, 
Leland’s Spice, Mother, Northern Spy, and Sutton 
Beauty, all promise well, but none of them have yet 
earned a well established reputation in this section of 
the country. The Esopus Spitzenbergand Peck’s Pleas¬ 
ant, are apples of exquisite flavor, but are not quite suf¬ 
ficiently productive. The Ladies’ Sweeting is handsom¬ 
er than Danvers Winter Sweeting, but its flavor is only 
second rate with me • and besides, they are both u noth¬ 
ing but sweetings.” 
Had my friend been at all inclined to experimenting, I 
should have recommended to him, as particularly worthy 
of trial, Duchesse of Oldenburgh, Leland’s Spice, Gra¬ 
venstein and Northern Spy, especially the latter; as we 
are actually entirely destitute of any profitable late-keep¬ 
ing variety of the apple. 
You are well aware that a list of apples for market is 
one thing; a list for home consumption is quite another; 
a list for an amateur, still something else. The first class 
must be handsome, productive and popular; the second 
must be various in flavor and in season of ripening; the 
third class must be—every thing. 
A list of market apples is already given above ; I would 
recommend for home consumption, (flavor, productive¬ 
ness, &c., taken into account,) the annexed list. 
Sweetings. 
Early Sweet Bough. 
Pumpkin Sweeting. 
DanversWinter Sweeting 
Ladies’ Sweeting. 
Season. Dessert. 
Summer ,—Early Williams. 
( Porter. 
„ , ,• Gravenstein. 
Munm, Hub Nonesuch . 
( Leland’s Spice. 
C Northern. 
Winter, < Baldwin. 
( R. I. Greening. 
Spring, —Roxbury Russet. 
(perhaps,) N. Spy. 
In the present state of information in regard to this 
noble but neglected fruit, I should hardly feel inclined to 
extend the list farther, pomological conventions to the 
contrary notwithstanding. 
Should the above prove acceptable, I shall at some fu¬ 
ture time, send you some notices of pears and other 
fruits. Truly yours, Geo.Jaques. Worcester, Mass., 
Nov., 1851. 
