iuir>. 
320 
PROMISING NEW FRUITS. 
PRING catalogues are at hand, and fruit-grow¬ 
ers must decide whether or not they will test 
the new varieties offered. The problem is a 
difficult one. made doubly so because nurserymen 
Apple King David. Fig. 106. 
describe new fruits in glowing terms, illustrating 
them with brightly colored [dates showing their 
merits, but say little or nothing about faults. Tree 
buyers have been so often defrauded through these 
one-sided descriptions that now as a class they as¬ 
sume a hostile attitude toward all new varieties. 
This is wrong, for the limit of improvement has not 
been reached with any cultivated fruit, and sooner 
or later we must have new varieties of all fruits 
that surpass the old ones. In other words, without 
new varieties, fruit-growing would he at a stand¬ 
still. The Geneva Experiment Station grows on 
probation all the fruit novelties offered in this coun¬ 
try. In this brief article I want to describe the best 
of the recent introductions as they grow on the 
grounds of this Station. 
Apples. 
DEACON .TONES.—Deacon Jones has been known 
for 20 years, but not until recently has it attracted 
attention. It is one of the largest apples, and when 
well colored one of the handsomest. The ground 
color is yellow, which is overlaid with an attractive 
red, relieved with numerous large dots. The shape 
is much like that of the old Yellow I-Tellflower. But 
it is in the tree that the variety surpasses. The 
trees, old and young, are thrifty, come into hearing 
early, hear yearly, are always fruitful and the crop 
hangs well on the tree. The flavor is mild sub-acid; 
quality good. The apples are firm in texture and 
the skin is tough so that the fruit ships well. Dea¬ 
con Jones ought to make a very good general-pur¬ 
pose market apple and is especially well adapted for 
planting as a filler. 
DELICIOUS.—Probably no other apple during the 
present generation has been more talked about than 
the Delicious. Though not new, having been intro¬ 
duced in 1S95. its sale has been pushed only during the 
past few years, in which time its culture has spread 
widely. Delicious as grown on the Station grounds 
is smaller and not as richly colored as when grown 
in the West, hut is just as good in quality, and 
quality is its greatest asset. The fruit of this va¬ 
riety on the Station grounds seems to increase in 
size and color as the trees grow older, and the trees 
become, if anything, more and more fruitful. The 
variety, however, has several faults in New York, 
chief of which are its susceptibility to water-core 
and to softening of flesh about the core, defects es¬ 
pecially prominent if the fruit is allowed to become 
too mature on the trees. It seems, too, to be rather 
susceptible to apple scab. Unquestionably, there are 
many soils and locations in New York in which De¬ 
lirious can be grown for the market and every man 
should plant a few trees of it in his home orchard. 
OPALESCENT.—Opalescent can be best described 
as a handsomely colored Twenty Ounce. The va¬ 
riety is so much like Twenty Ounce that one could 
readily believe it to he a hud mutation of that well- 
known sort. Imagine a Twenty Ounce apple col¬ 
ored a brilliant red on a yellow background and you 
have the Opalescent. Its season here in common 
storage is until well in January. The trees have 
all the Twenty Ounce characteristics—hardy, vig¬ 
orous and productive. For those who think they 
must grow a highly colored apple to compete with 
the showy fruit from the West, there is no better 
sort than Opalescent. 
KING DAVID.—One of the parents of King David 
is Jonathan, and the variety much resembles that 
sort. At Geneva it is superior to the parent in every 
important character. The trees are more productive 
and more vigorous. Better still, the apples are 
larger than those of Jonathan, brighter colored, 
more rotund in shape and more uniform in size. 
M'HIS KUKAL NEW-VOKkc,'.^ 
The apples hang well on the tree, but we have found 
from several years’ experience that they should be 
picked as soon as well colored, and before the seeds 
are ripened, otherwise they do not keep well. The 
flesh of King David is firm, flue, crisp, spicy and 
juicy, and the variety thus becomes not only one 
of the beauties but one of the delicacies of the or¬ 
chard. It can he recommended in this State for all 
home orchards, and is much more promising as a 
commercial variety than Jonathan. 
Peaches. 
A III’ BEAUTY.—Peach growers have long wanted 
a good early yellow peach. Arp Beauty seems to 
be the best one, for besides earliness the trees are 
healthy, vigorous, productive and hardy. In par¬ 
ticular hardiness is a valuable asset to the variety, 
it having passed through two Winter freezes on our 
grounds without injury when other varieties suf- 
lered badly. The peaches are round-oval with a 
(Concluded on page 366) 
THE TRUTH ABOUT EVERBEARING 
STRAWBERRIES. 
P AN AMERICAN.—In 1899 Mr. Samuel Cooper 
of Cattaraugus County, New York, made the dis¬ 
covery which has given to us an entirely new 
race of strawberries. That Fall, while walking over 
i patch of old Bismarck strawberries, he found a 
plant with several runners attached to it. That par¬ 
ticular plant and its runners were quite full of 
blossoms and fruit, and it was supposed to be a bud 
sport of the old Bismarck berry Mr. Cooper took 
Spuayixg Apple Tubes In Bloom. Fig. 107. 
these plants up, set them by themselves and later 
named them the Pan American. The Pan American 
gave ripe berries and blossoms in the Summer and 
Fall months. By using this as the foundation stock 
and by very painstaking work in hybridizing, se¬ 
lection, etc. .Mr. Cooper succeeded in producing 
several new varieties of berries that could he de¬ 
pended upon to give ripe fruit in the Summer and 
Fall months as well as in the Spring. The Pan 
American itself is of little value commercially. It 
makes few if any runners, and the fruit is rather 
scattering and small in size. Its chief value lies in 
the fact that it furnished the foundation stock for 
producing other and better varieties of Fall ber¬ 
ries. So far as has been tested by the public the 
best of these better varieties produced by Mr. Coop¬ 
er is the Superb. 
SUPERB.—I have had an opportunity to observe 
the Superb under test here in South Jersey for four 
years. As I have seen it the Superb behaves as fol¬ 
lows: Plants set out in April bloom along with 
Chesapeake berries set out at the same time. These 
first blossoms are removed; then they commence to 
bloom again and ripe berries are produced about 
July 12 or 15. and they continue to come with more 
or less regularity until freezing weather. Last year 
the last picked for market was on Nov. 7. Some 
were picked for home use Nov. 20. The berries in 
the Fall are produced principally on the parent 
plants and the earliest set runners. The fruit is 
borne in sufficient quantities to warrant picking for 
market. It costs from three to five cents a quart 
to pick the Fall crop. The Spring crop is picked for 
one and one-half cent a quart. The bulk of the 
Fall crop comes the last of July, August and the 
first half of September. After making this Fall 
crop the first season set, the Superb will come on 
next Spring with a full crop that ripens along with, 
or a few days ahead of, the Gandy. Last Spring, 
because of the drought, was very disastrous to all 
varieties of berries and there was less than half a 
crop. The Superb stood the dry weather bettei 
than most varieties, but even that failed fully to 
mature the heavy set of fruit that it bore. A 
year ago Superb produced at the rate of 11,HOG 
quarts to the acre in matted rows, while Gandy 
and Chesapeake grown under the same conditions 
gave less than 6,000 quarts. 
SUPERIOR QUALITY—Two years ago I saw the 
Superb fruited for the first time in quantity. The 
berries are large and firm, and are to my mind 
the best flavored berry I ever tasted. It even sur¬ 
passes Uncle Jim. which I have long considered 
about the best of the table varieties. In July. Au¬ 
gust and early September the flavor is also delicious, 
but when the nights get cold the berries become 
flat and tasteless: but they hold their size until 
freezing. The second Summer the berries wiil lie 
very small in size and will not pay for picking if 
plants are allowed to become too thick in matted 
rows, hut if grown on the hill system they will be 
nearly as large as the first Summer. The second 
Spring the yield is a good one even where they are 
allowed to crowd in matted rows. The Superb is 
a very hardy plant, makes strong foliage and will 
stand more cold and drought than most other va- 
lieties. It has perfect blossoms. The fruit in ap¬ 
pearance very much resembles a well-grown Chesa 
peake. The fault in the Superb, if it has one. lies 
in the fact that it is inclined to make too many 
i miners on strong soil. It must be planted accord 
ingly. The Superb can he handled by two classes 
of growers. First by the specialist who will devote 
his energy to the production of Fall berries only 
This can best he done by planting on the hill sys¬ 
tem and removing runners. The maximum yield of 
Fall berries can be secured in this way. Second, 
by the commercial grower who will grow them in 
matted rows or restricted matted rows, and who will 
get enough fruit in the Fall of the first season to 
pay for establishing the bed, and then rely on the 
Spring crop for his greatest returns. 
OTHER VARIETIES.—Besides the Superb l have 
ebserved six other varieties of everbearers. One of 
these, called the Progressive, was originated by Mr. 
Harlow Ilockhill of Iowa. Mr. Rockhill has been 
working independently of Mr. Cooper and the Pro¬ 
gressive is the best of his introductions that have 
as yet been tried out by the public. The Superb 
bears fruit the first season mainly on the parent 
plant and the first set runners. The Progressive 
fruits more freely on the runners than Superb, and 
under favorable conditions will give more berries 
in the Fall of the first year than Superb. The ber¬ 
ries do not average as large and they are not as firm, 
1 lit their number is greater. The Progressive also 
gives a good Spring crop that ripens rather early. 
Because of their softness they are best suited to 
nearby markets. For a Spring fruiting variety the 
Superb is superior, but anyone who desires an 
abundance of fruit in the Fall and is not particular 
about extra large size or firmness, will prefer Pro¬ 
gressive to Superb. 
FALL PRICES.—Now a word as to the price of 
berries in the Fall. For two years hack Superb 
berries have sold for 25 to 50 cents a quart whole¬ 
sale. This past season has been an off year on 
prices of all kinds of fruit, and there has been an 
abundance of peaches. At Chester, Pa., which was 
the poorest market, so.me berries sold for 10 cents 
a quart. Most of them though sold for 15 to 25 
Apple Deacon Jones. Fig. 10S. 
cents. At Philadelphia prices were better, the high¬ 
est being 37 1 /-! cents a quart. A few selected ones 
in New York brought much more. A great many 
(Conclmled on page lit ) 
