HOUSE AND GARDEN 
February, 1911 
healthy. The fruit is ready almost as soon as Yellow Transparent, 
and is of much better quality for eating. In appearance it is excep¬ 
tionally handsome, being of good size, regular form and having 
those beautiful red shades found almost exclusively in the later ap¬ 
ples. The flesh is bright white, reddish sub-skin, tender and of an 
agreeable sourish flavor. Another good early is Chenango 
(Chenango Strawberry). It is not so well known, nor so much 
appreciated as it should be, for two of its characteristics have 
mitigated against its commercial use, and these same character¬ 
istics add to its value in a home orchard. First, it does not attain 
a very large size; and second, it is a “successive” ripener, the 
maturing of its fruits being stretched throughout September. 
In shape it is oblong, not very regular; in color, yellow under¬ 
ground, with attractive red, irregular stripes overlaid. It is 
essentially an eating apple, being too mild for cooking purposes. 
Among the autumn group my preference is Porter, for an 
early sort, handsome and regular in shape, and of an attractive 
ripe yellow color. I remember bow the first “windfalls” from 
the two trees in our orchard used to be prized in the daily hunts 
after school, and very often, when no one was looking from the 
house, the force of gravity seemed to have a strangely selective 
action in the case of the biggest fruits. Gravenstein is another 
early, well and favorably known. For late autumn sorts, McIntosh 
Red is without an equal. The color is one of the most tempting 
reds of any apple grown, shading to dark velvet, overspread with 
a delicate “bloom,” in form, remarkably even and round. Its 
quality is fully up to its appearance. The white, crisp, breaking 
flesh, most aromatic, deliciously sub-acid, makes it ideal for 
eating. A neighbor of mine sold four hundred and six dollars’ 
worth of fruit from twenty trees to one dealer. For such a 
splendid apple McIntosh is remarkably hardy and vigorous, suc¬ 
ceeding over a very wide territory, and climates severe enough 
to kill many of the other newer varieties. The Fameuse (wide¬ 
ly known as the Snow), is an excellent variety for northern 
sections. It resembles the McIntosh, which some claim to be 
derived from it. Fall Pippin, Pound Sweet and Twenty Ounce, 
are other popular late autumns. 
In the winter section, Baldwin, which is too well known to need 
describing, is the 
leading commercial 
variety in many 
apple districts, and 
it is a good variety 
for home-growing 
on account of its 
hardiness and good 
cooking and keep¬ 
ing qualities; but 
for the home or¬ 
chard, it is far sur¬ 
passed in quality 
by several others. 
In northern sec¬ 
tions, down to the 
corn line, North¬ 
ern Spy is a great 
favorite. It is a 
large, roundish ap¬ 
ple, with thin, ten¬ 
der, glossy skin, 
light to deep car¬ 
mine over light yel¬ 
low, and an excel¬ 
lent keeper. In sec¬ 
tions to which it is 
adapted it is a par¬ 
91 
Two crops on the same ground at the same time—fruit and poultry. 
The chickens help to keep in check the devastating hordes of 
insects 
ticularly vigorous, compact, upright grower. Jonathan is an¬ 
other splendid sort, with a wider range of conditions favorable 
for growth. It is, however, not a strong growing tree and is 
somewhat uncertain in maturing its fruit, which is a bright, clear 
red of distinctive flavor. It likes a soil with more clay than do 
most apples. In the Middle West and Middle South. Grimes 
(Golden) has made a great local reputation in many sections, 
although in others it has not done well at all. 
The Spitzenberg (Esopus) is very near the top of the list 
of all late eating apples, being at its prime about December. It 
is another handsome yellow-covered red apple, with flesh slightly 
yellowish, but very good to the taste. The tree, unfortunately, 
is not a robust grower, being especially weak in its earlier stages, 
but with good cultivation it will not fail to reward the grower 
for any extra care it may have required. 
These, and the other notable varieties, which there is not 
room here to describe, make up the following list, from which 
the planter should select according to locality: 
Earliest or Summer .—Early Harvest, Yellow Transparent, 
Red Astrachan, Benoni (new), Chenango, Sweet Bough, Will¬ 
iams' Eavorite, Early Strawberry. 
Early Auiumn. —Alexander, Duchess, Porter, Gravenstein 
McIntosh Red. 
Late Autumn. —Jefferies, Fameuse (Snow), Maiden's Blush, 
Wealthy, Fall Pippin, Pound Sweet, Twenty Ounce, Cox Orange, 
Hubbardston. 
Winter. —Baldwin, Rhode Island Greening, Northwestern 
Greening, Jonathan, Northern Spy, Yellow, Swaar, Delicious, 
Wagener, King, Esopus, Spitzenberg, Yellow Bellflower, Winter 
Banana, Seek-no-Further, Talman Sweet, Roxbury Russett, King 
David, Stayman’s Winesap, Wolf River. 
PEARS 
Pears are more particular than apples in the matter of being 
adapted to sections and soils. Submit your list to your State 
Experiment Station before ordering trees. Many of the stand¬ 
ard sorts may be had where a low-growing, spreading tree is 
desired (for instance, quince-stock pears might be used to change 
places with the plums in the diagram: on page 89). Varieties 
suitable for this method are listed below. They are given ap¬ 
proximately in the order of the ripening. 
Wilder: early August, medium in size, light yellow, excellent 
quality. Does not rot at the core, as so many early pears are 
likely to do. 
(Continued on page 116) 
The extent to which the French gardeners 
go in their intensive culture of fruit 
