The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
347 
A R 
eview o 
f the N e w Fruits 
HE NURSERY CATALOGUES.—January 
and February bring the nurserymen’s cat¬ 
alogues. This year they are more sumptu¬ 
ous and alluring than ever. The old-time 
catalogues with over-colored caricatures of 
fruits and none too truthful descriptions 
have evolved into beautifully and accurately illus- 
trated horticultural magazines, for most part well 
edited and truthfully written. The nursery cat¬ 
alogues of today, as compared with those of yester¬ 
day, are tributes to a saner and more reliable nur¬ 
sery business, and to more intelligent and better 
informed buyers of nursery stock. 
BUYING NEW VARIETIES.—What attitude 
should the fruit grower take towards the new fruits 
offered in these catalogues? Those whose calcula¬ 
tions run to a sure and quick 
turnover of capital will not buy. 
To such, new fruits savor overly 
much of speculation. They see 
no immediate money to be made 
in new fruits. But those who are 
willing to postpone profits for a 
time, that progress in pomology 
may be hastened, even though 
they must speculate somewhat 
as to ultimate profits, will make 
expenditures commensurate with 
their means for what seems to 
them to be the best of the new 
fruits. Is there justification for 
new fcruits? Let us see. 
YEARS OF PROGRESS.—The 
history of fruit growing in Amer¬ 
ica since 1800 is the greatest and 
is sufficient justification of plant¬ 
ing new fruits. At that date al¬ 
most none of the thousands of 
varieties of fruits, now found in 
American orchards and garden* 
were grown; native plums, Amer¬ 
ican grapes, American raspber 
ries. blackberries, dewberries, 
cranberries, gooseberries a n d 
strawberries were not cultivated 
in the United States. Since tin- 
year 1800 there have been 
brought into cultivation 11 Ameri¬ 
can species of plums, of which 
there are 433 purebred and 155 
hybrid varieties; 15 species of 
American grapes, with 404 pure 
and 700 hybrid varieties; four 
species of raspberries with 2S0 
varieties: six species of black¬ 
berries with 80 varieties; five 
species of dewberries with 23 va¬ 
rieties; two species of cranber¬ 
ries with GO varieties, and two 
gooseberries with 35 varieties; 
all told. 45 species of American 
fruits, with 2.220 varieties, have 
been domesticated from wild 
plants found on this continent. 
Besides these new fruits from 
our own country, the strawberry, 
with its hundreds of varieties; 
Japanese plums. Kieffer - like 
pears, several new races of peaches, oranges, lemons, 
grapefruits and many other sub-tropical fruits have 
been introduced. 
EFFECT UPON THE INDUSTRY.—But we must 
add to the millions and millions of dollars these new 
fruits have brought to America a possibly greater 
number of millions added by the introduction of new 
varieties of old fruits, as of apples, pears, peaches, 
plums and cherries. In the face of these figures, 
who dare assert ‘'new varieties don't pay"? Had 
fruit growers for the past hundred years refused to 
plant new varieties, there could hardly be a fruit 
industry in America with the niggardly and insig¬ 
nificant assortment of fruits and varieties grown in 
1800. All this is from a dollars-and-cents point of 
view. No consideration is taken of what these new 
fruits lia*ve added to food as a necessity and to the 
pleasure and healthfulness of living. 
CONTINUED IMPROVEMENT.—With this great 
array of new fruits and new varietes it may be 
argued that more are not needed, that the limit of 
improvement is nearly reached. Not true! Most of 
oiir fruits are but one or few removes from the wild 1 
state. Every one of our commercial varieties is bet¬ 
ter characterized by its faults than by its merits. 
For example, the Baldwin is tender to cold, bears 
biennially, is subject to Baldwin spot, and is none 
too good in quality; Bartlett is ravaged by blight, 
does not keep well, and is self-sterile; Elberta is 
wretchedly poor ia quality and blossoms too early: 
and so with every fruit to be named. With new 
discoveries in plant breeding we are just at the be¬ 
ginning of improvement in fruits—on the first rung 
of a long ladder. We are not nearly as far along 
in the evolution of fruits as the florist is with flow¬ 
ers, good examples of improved flowers being roses, 
Chrysanthemums and carnations. Greater improve¬ 
ment ought to be made in the next hundred years 
than was made in the last. Probably we shall not 
be growing a single variety of fruits on a large scale 
Tioig of Seneca Cherry (natural size). Fig. 114 
in the year 2024 that we now grow commercially. 
BETTER SORTS NEEDED.—A closely related 
phase of the fruit industry needs brief discussion. 
Various organizations throughout the country advo¬ 
cate cutting down the number of varieties now cul¬ 
tivated. If carried far, this will prove a short¬ 
sighted policy. With thousands of varieties of di¬ 
verse flavors, colors, seasons and purposes, with un¬ 
bounded pomological riches, why offer those who buy 
fruits a meager and often a poor sample of what 
could be grown? With hundreds of good peaches, 
why glut the markets in the attempt to make people 
eat the wretchedly poor Elberta? In the East, at 
least, the roadside market, growing greatly in vol¬ 
ume of business from year to year, offers splendid 
opportunities to educate consumers in buying choice¬ 
ly good fruits. The natural capacity of soils and 
climates to produce a diversity of crops is one of the 
greatest resources for an increased food supply. Not 
to attempt to utilize and develop to its highest effi¬ 
ciency the vast wealth in the great variety of fruits 
is a reckless ignoring on the part of fruit growers of 
a great opportunity to build up their industry. 
With this lengthy introduction, I want now 
to doscribe briefly a few of the best new fruits 
featured in the catalogues and bulletins of 1924. 
APPLES.—Several new apples have sufficient 
merit for trial by apple growers. The Canadian Ex¬ 
perimental Farm at Ottawa is introducing a new 
apple of the McIntosh type called Lobo. The new 
variety was awarded the Wilder Medal at the meet¬ 
ing of the American Pomological Society in New 
York in November last, which, with the recommen¬ 
dation of its introduction, is sufficient warrant for 
its trial. 
The New York Experiment Station is introducing 
four new apples of the McIntosh type which those 
interested in McIntosh-like apples ought to try. The 
earliest in season of these is Early McIntosh. The 
fruits ripen at Geneva about Aug. 1. They are the 
same shape and color as the Mc¬ 
Intosh. The flavor and aroma is 
finite as delicious as that of Mc¬ 
Intosh, either to eat out of hand 
or for culinary purposes. The 
parents of Early McIntosh are 
Yellow Transparent and McIn¬ 
tosh crossed for the purpose of 
getting a good early red apple, 
which all apple growers will 
agree is much needed. 
A sister to the Early McIntosh 
is Milton, which ripens about the 
middle of September, or a month 
earlier than McIntosh. The fruit 
is very similar to that of McIn¬ 
tosh in shape and size, but much 
more attractive in color. No ap¬ 
ple on the station grounds is as 
handsome. The fruits are a 
beautiful pinkish-red with very 
heavy bloom. 
Another of the station seed¬ 
lings of McIntosh is Macoun, the 
fruits of which are not ready for 
use until about the first of Janu¬ 
ary, and which keep a month or 
more later than Cortland, which 
in turn is later than McIntosh. 
The flesh is crisp, fine, tender, 
juicy, white, and flavored like 
that of McIntosh. It is a splen¬ 
did sort to follow Cortland. The 
most apparent fault is that the 
fruits run a little small. Since 
the trees on the station grounds 
are in a crowded orchard, it may 
well be that the fruits will be 
larger when grown under better 
conditions. 
The fourth McIntosh seedling 
from Geneva is a sweet apple. 
The fruits look and taste like a 
McIntosh except that they are 
quite sweet. The new variety 
has been named Sweet McIntosh. 
The fruits ripen about the end 
of November and are in season 
with McIntosh. Those who have 
tasted it think it to be the best 
of all sweet apples for dessert 
purposes. 
The Geneva Station is sending out two other 
named seedlings, but of the Delicious type. One of 
these is Medina, produced by crossing Deacon Jones 
with Delicious. The fruits have the appearance and 
taste of Delicious, but on the station grounds they 
are much larger and much handsomer. One of the 
faults with Delicious in Western New York is that 
the fruits are too small. Those who want to grow 
an apple of the Delicious type should try Medina. 
The color is a brighter red than that of Delicious, 
and a heavy bloom overlies the red, giving the apple 
a most attractive appearance. The flesh and flavor 
are very like those of Delicious—possibly too mild 
for a good culinary apple. The fruits are in season 
during December and January. 
Sweet Delicious is a sister fruit to Medina and 
very like it in size and color, but sweet in flavor. 
Besides being a good dessert apple this variety is 
most excellent for baking. 
One of the most remarkable of the new apples 
brought prominently to the attention of fruit grow¬ 
ers this year is Red Gravenstein. offered by several 
nurserymen. The trees on the station grounds 
came from the Washington Nursery Company, Top- 
