THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
59i 
THE PERSONALITIES OF FRUITS 
Something We Ought to Know About High Quality Apples 
Early Varieties 
JOHN CRAIG 
In the Garden Magazine 
The apple is the great fruit staple of north temperate 
regions. As Grindon very truly remarks, “Foremost 
always among fruits interesting to an Englishman (and we 
can safely extend the limitation to include English speaking 
peoples) is the apple.” “The apple is of more use and 
benefit” he says further “to the people of England in general 
than all the other fruits put together.” What is true of 
England is equally true of Northeastern America. The 
apple expresses greater variety in color, flavor, and in the 
uses to which it may be put than any other class of fruit. 
There is no reason why every landowner in the North East 
may not have apples the year round for he may introduce 
himself in July to one of the greatest delicacies of the season 
in the form of fresh apple sauce made from his Yellow 
Transparent or Lowland Raspberry while the last of his 
crisp Northern Spies of the vintage of the previous year are 
still in cool storage. The good apple satisfies but it rarely 
cloys. In this respect it stands in sharp contrast to the 
fruits of the tropics. “Stay me with raisins, comfort me 
with apples” says an ancient Hebrew. He knew what he 
was talking about. He knew that the concentrated sweet¬ 
ness of the raisin furnished food in considerable quantities 
while the eating of an apple only furnished zest for more 
substantial solids. We cannot absorb all our food in con¬ 
centrated form no matter how convenient. “Fillin’ ” or 
roughage, to use a stock feeder’s term, is said to be essential 
to the digestive processes. Incontestible evidence regard¬ 
ing the comparatively small food value of apples measured 
by merely gustatory qualities may be easily secured from 
the scores of youthful harvest hands found in orchard 
regions during the annual picking season. The orehardist 
knows that while the consumption of “meller” and pre¬ 
maturely ripened specimens is enormous it does not appear 
to have the faintest cloying effect upon the appetite of these 
same youths as they make their tri-daily appearance at the 
farmer’s table. On the contrary the appetite seems 
sharpened, while digestion is usually in an exceedingly 
buoyant condition. Isn’t this one of the missions of the 
apple? Take growing children at a time when they are 
hungry all over, veracious at every pore, and ripe apples are 
a veritable godsend. This fruit furnishes the necessary 
physical consciousness of being filled, without the fear of 
accompanying trouble or subsequent ailment. 
HOW MAY WE KNOW APPLES? 
The best way, of course, is through frequent communica¬ 
tion. Each variety possesses its own individuality. '1 he 
laborer in the fruit tree nursery soon learns to recognize the 
kind which sets its roots deeply in the earth. It “digs hard” 
he says. The tree agent recognizes some varieties because 
of their puny growth and small stature. He remembers 
these because his customers object to them. This is un¬ 
fortunate, for weak bodies are characteristics of some of our 
best kinds and so it happens that when marked vigor of tree 
and low quality of fruit are associated we have a combina¬ 
tion which may be looked upon as responsible in large 
measure for the rapid distribution of some of our distinctly 
mediocre apples. The nurseryman prefers to sell something 
which brings immediate satisfaction than to urge upon the 
customer a poor tree which he receives with protest and 
harbors under suspicion. 
Again the apple picker soon recognizes the varieties 
which fill the barrel quickly, which are easily separated from 
the holding spur, which must be handled with care to avoid 
bruising or which will bear rough treatment without show¬ 
ing it immediately. The packer, too, in his intimate asso¬ 
ciation with the skin of varieties gains such an acquaintance 
with them that he not only recognizes well marked differ¬ 
ences of texture as between varieties but the observant man 
may detect differences in the same variety attributable to 
soil as well as climatic influence. 
Let us therefore, make it our business to get acquainted 
with the personalities of apples, know the tree, its likes and 
dislikes, know the fruit, its beauties, defects, and uses. 
EARLY JOE 
My earliest memory of apples and orchards are associated 
with forays upon the single tree of Early Joe in the home 
orchard in Western Quebec. To my boyish fancy this 
variety typified all that was delicious and toothsome in an 
apple. During the windfall season in late August and early 
September daily, personally conducted excursions by the 
small boys of the family made the rounds of the early 
maturing apple trees and attention was always focused upon 
Early Joe, although other seasonable kinds were by no 
means overlooked. 
Early Joe will always remain an amateur variety. 
“The Apples of New York” suggests that it is fairly widely 
known. 
What of the fruit? It is small to medium. Who can 
mention an apple of the largest size of high quality ? If this 
variety lacks uniformity in ripening it makes it up in size 
and shape. This oblate roundishness is covered with a dull 
red, laid on in splashes and stripes, warmed up with bright 
carmine. Like the Early Joe the core is small and the cells 
