The Apple Part 12

_Synonym_: Canada Pippin.

This apple is much cultivated at the West, but of unknown origin. It is of the Newtown Pippin cla.s.s, distinct from Canada Reinette. Tree thrifty, upright, a regular and good bearer. Young shoots dark, clear, reddish brown, downy. Fruit large, form variable, roundish, oblate, slightly oblique, greenish white, waxen, sprinkled with green dots, and becoming pale yellow at maturity, sometimes having a dull blush and a few brown dots. Stalk short, inserted in a large cavity, surrounded by green russet. Calyx small, nearly closed, set in an abrupt-furrowed basin. Flesh white, tender, crisp, juicy, fine, rich subacid. Very good to best. Core small. January to March.

DOMINIE.

_Synonyms_: English Rambo, Wells, Cheat, Hogan, Striped Rhode Island Greening, Cling Tight, English Red Streak, and English Beauty of Pennsylvania.

This apple, extensively planted in the orchards on the Hudson and west, so much resembles the Rambo externally that the two are often confounded, and the outline of the Rambo may be taken as nearly a _facsimile_ of this. The Dominie is, however, of a livelier color, and the flavor and season of the two fruits are very distinct, the Rambo being rather a high-flavored early winter apple, while the Dominie is a sprightly, juicy, long-keeping winter fruit. Fruit of medium size, flat.

Skin lively greenish yellow in the shade, with stripes and splashes of bright red in the sun, and pretty large russet specks. Stalk long and slender, planted in a wide cavity, and inclined to one side. Calyx small, in a broad basin, moderately sunk. Flesh white, exceedingly tender and juicy, with a sprightly, pleasant, though not high flavor.

Young wood of a shoot lively light brown, and the trees are very hardy, and the most rapid growers and prodigious early bearers that we know--the branches being literally weighted down by the rope-like cl.u.s.ters of fruit. The Dominie does not appear to be described by any foreign author. c.o.xe says that he received it from England, but the apple he describes and figures does not appear to be ours, and we have never met with it in any collection here. It is highly probable that the Dominie is a native fruit. It is excellent from December to April.

RHODE ISLAND GREENING.

_Synonyms_: Burlington Greening, Russine, Bell Dubois, and Jersey Greening.

The Rhode Island Greening is such a universal favorite, and so generally known, that it seems superfluous to describe it. It succeeds well in most of the northern sections of the United States, and on a great variety of soils. Where it succeeds it is one of the most esteemed and profitable among early winter fruits. [In Kansas it drops too early.]

Tree a very vigorous, spreading grower. Young shoots reddish brown. Very productive. [Shy in Kansas.] Fruit large, roundish, a little flattened, pretty regular, but often obscurely ribbed, dark green, becoming greenish yellow when ripe, when it sometimes shows a dull blush near the stalk. Calyx small, woolly, closed, in a slightly sunken, scarcely plaited basin. Stalk three-fourths of an inch long, curved, thickest at the bottom. Flesh yellow, fine grained, tender, crisp, with an abundance of rich, sprightly, aromatic, lively, acid juice. Very good. November to February.

PENNOCK.

_Synonyms_: Pomme Roye, Large Romanite, Prolific Beauty, Roman Knight, Big Romanite, Neisley's Winter Penick, Pelican, Red Ox, Red Pennock, Pennock's Red Winter, and Gay's Romanite.

Origin, Pennsylvania. Tree a strong, vigorous, upright, spreading grower, and very productive. Fruit quite large, oblique, generally flat, but occasionally roundish oblong, fine, deep red, with faint, indistinct streaks of yellow. Flesh yellow, tender and juicy, with a pleasant, half-sweet flavor. Good. November to March.

KESWICK CODLIN.

A noted English cooking apple, which may be gathered for tarts as early as the month of August, and continues in use till November. It is an early and a great bearer and a vigorous tree, and is one of the most profitable of orchard sorts for cooking or market. Tree very hardy, forming a large, regular, upright, spreading, round head. Fruit a little above the middle size, rather conical, with a few obscure ribs. Stalk short and deeply set. Calyx rather large. Skin greenish yellow, washed with a faint blush on one side. Flesh yellowish white, juicy, with a pleasant acid flavor.

EMPEROR.

Described by Verry Aldrich in the _Prairie Farmer_ as follows: Fruit medium, roundish, one-sided, orange, striped and shaded with red on the sun side, covered with white specks. Stalk short and slender. Cavity deep. Flesh white, fine grained, tender, juicy, pleasant, almost sweet.

EARLY MARGARET.

_Synonyms_: Margaret or Striped Juneating, Early Red Juneating, Red Juneating, Striped June, Eve Apple of the Irish, and Margaretha Apfel of the Germans.

An excellent early apple, ripening about the middle of July, or directly after the Early Harvest. The tree while young is rather slender, with reddish brown, upright, woolly shoots. It is a moderate bearer. Fruit below medium size, roundish oblate, tapering towards the eye. Skin greenish yellow, pretty well covered by stripes of dark red. Flesh white, subacid, and, when freshly gathered from the tree, of a rich, agreeable flavor. Good.

MOTHER.

_Synonyms_: Queen Anne, Gardener's Apple.

Origin, Bolton, Ma.s.s. Tree moderately vigorous, upright, and productive.

Young shoots grayish brown, downy. One of the best of apples for dessert; rather too tender for shipment. Fruit medium. Form roundish, slightly conical. Color yellow, almost entirely overspread with light, clear, rich red, splashed and marbled with many deeper shades, many minute little dots. Stalk short, small. Cavity acute, often a little russeted. Calyx closed. Basin small, corrugated. Flesh yellow, tender, juicy, rich, aromatic subacid. Best. November to February.

ARKANSAS BLACK.

Medium, slightly conical, regular, smooth, glossy; yellow, generally covered with deep crimson, small, light-colored dots. Basin shallow. Eye small, closed. Cavity shallow, russeted. Stem medium. Flesh very yellow, fine grained, firm, juicy, subacid, rich. Very good. Arkansas. (Thomas.)

WHITNEY.

Medium, handsome, rich, good. Very hardy. Illinois. (Thomas.)

NOTE.

All the descriptions of apples given here are taken from Downing's "Fruit and Fruit-trees of America," excepting otherwise noted.

THE STATE, BY DISTRICTS.

For convenience, Kansas was divided by the official board into four fruit districts, simply quartering the state. The first district is composed of the following twenty-seven counties, in the northeast quarter. Reports, or rather experiences, from each of these counties will be found immediately following. We give below the number of apple trees in the first district, compiled from the statistics of 1897. Many thousands were added during the spring of 1898.

DISTRICT No. 1--APPLE TREES, 1897.

_Bearing._ _Not bearing._ _Total._ Atchison county 150,024 70,691 220,715 Brown county 160,583 57,488 218,071 Clay county 89,725 26,087 115,812 Cloud county 68,832 24,451 93,283 d.i.c.kinson county 110,351 31,926 142,277 Doniphan county 156,661 163,701 320,362 Douglas county 159,706 120,375 280,081 Franklin county 126,906 70,831 197,737 Geary county 39,148 19,357 58,505 Jackson county 123,485 84,533 208,018 Jefferson county 120,509 86,837 207,346 Johnson county 88,395 69,709 158,104 Leavenworth county 199,212 216,015 415,227 Marshall county 157,279 66,556 223,835 Miami county 101,541 82,069 183,610 Morris county 93,182 45,555 138,737 Nemaha county 140,278 62,535 202,813 Osage county 246,265 56,478 302,743 Ottawa county 40,538 30,149 60,687 Pottawatomie county 117,234 50,079 167,313 Republic county 128,076 58,662 186,738 Riley county 103,053 44,640 147,693 Saline county 74,648 24,400 99,048 Shawnee county 207,779 130,720 338,499 Wabaunsee county 108,942 50,195 159,137 Washington county 152,768 80,194 232,962 Wyandotte county 112,541 79,903 192,444 --------- --------- --------- Total in district 3,377,661 1,894,136 5,271,797 Acreage, about 600,000 300,000 900,000

FRED WELLHOUSE & SON: Have been in Kansas since 1859, and grow no fruit but apples, having 117 acres in Leavenworth county, planted in 1876; 160 acres in Miami county, planted in 1878; 160 acres in Leavenworth county, planted in 1879; 800 acres in Osage county, planted in 1889, 1890, and 1891; 300 acres in Leavenworth county, planted in 1894; 140 acres in Leavenworth county, planted in 1896--total of about 100,000 trees, set out from two to twenty-two years. We prefer for commercial orchard, Jonathan, Missouri Pippin, Ben Davis, Winesap, and York Imperial, and for family orchard would add to these, Red June, Chenango, Maiden's Blush, Huntsman, and Rome Beauty. We tried sixteen acres of Cooper's Early White, but have discarded them as unprofitable, shy bearers. We consider upland the best if soil is of good quality. We have them on all slopes; can see no particular difference where soil is equal. We prefer rich, black soil (vegetable mold), clay subsoil. We plant in furrows, the rows thirty-two feet apart, the trees sixteen feet apart in the rows, running north and south.

The best trees to plant are two years old, the lowest limb or limbs not over two feet from the ground. We grow most of our trees from our own root grafts. Cultivation: We cultivate for the first five years, by throwing the soil first to and then from the trees, with a single or a double turning plow, and grow only corn. At five years from planting we sow the ground to clover, and this with other growths, such as weeds, is left on the ground as a mulch and fertilizer. We have never used any windbreaks at any of our orchards. Think they would be an advantage in some localities. We use traps for rabbits, knife and wire for borers. We prune very little, such as removing broken limbs. We have never fertilized any of our orchards. We do not believe it pays to pasture orchards, and do not allow it.

The insects that trouble us most are: Canker-worm, tent-caterpillar, fringed-wing bud moth, handmaid-moth or yellow-necked caterpillar, roundheaded borer and the tussock-moth caterpillar on our trees; and codling-moth, gouger and tree cricket on and in our fruit. We spray annually, using a horse-power machine, ill.u.s.trated in former reports of the State Horticultural Society, for the leaf-eating insects named, using London purple and clear water, sometimes adding lime. We spray before the blossom opens, for bud moth, canker-worm and tent-caterpillar, and after the petals have fallen for codling-moth, tussock-moth, and fall web-worm. We have been successful except as to bud moth and fall web-worm. We believe we have greatly reduced the codling-moth by spraying, and we know we have destroyed the canker-worm.

Have never successfully combated borers, excepting with knife and wire.

Fall web-worms are burned in the tree with a gasoline torch, or the small limbs with webs are removed and burned. We have as yet found no particular method for fighting the bud moth successfully.

We gather our apples by hand in common two-bushel seamless sacks, used in the same manner as for sowing grain. A strap of heavy leather is attached, making it easy for the shoulder. A hook and ring are also put on to facilitate the removal of the sack when emptying. We prefer common straight ladders, with sides from sixteen to twenty inches apart at the bottom and six inches at the top, rounds fourteen inches apart. We use bushel boxes for hauling from the orchard to packing-house. We sort into three grades: No. 1, No. 2, and culls. No. 1's are all sound and firm apples, of about from two and one-fourth to two and one-half inches in diameter, the size of the smallest depending on the variety. We put in the No. 2 grade those that have any defects barring them from the first grade, yet they make a good second-cla.s.s for immediate use; we also pack in this grade any sound apples that run uniformally small.

Of all packages tried, we prefer and use the three-bushel barrel, 17-1/8 inch head and 28-1/2 inch stave. When one head is removed, the barrel is turned over and a rap with the hand removes all trash. If we are packing a fine grade of fruit, we put a piece of white paper, cut a little less than the diameter of the barrel, in before facing. Barrels are double-faced or plated. We are careful to have the barrels rocked or shaken often while being filled. The name of variety and our trade-mark is put on the barrel with stencil or rubber stamp. No. 1's and 2's are hauled to shipping station in barrels; culls in bulk in ordinary farm wagon. We have never sold our crop in the orchard; always preferred to have it picked and packed under our own supervision. Our apples have been sold in car lots. Firsts and seconds have gone to wholesale dealers. Culls we have evaporated, sold to men who evaporate, to cider-mills, and to dealers who handle bulk apples.

For drying, we use the New York hop kiln, Rival No. 2 parers, and upright bleachers, all of which have been reasonably satisfactory. We believe them the best we can get, considering the cla.s.s of evaporated fruit in demand. White stock is best handled in fifty-pound boxes; chops, peelings and cores in sacks. We always found a ready market for dried fruit. Some years it paid well.

We have wintered only in cold-storage plants, always in barrels, and it has been profitable. Ben Davis and Winesap have kept best, with Missouri Pippin a close second. Jonathan keeps well under proper conditions. If kept as late as March, it is generally necessary to repack, but not always. Our greatest loss has been on Jonathan, which in some instances, when kept late in the season, has reached ten per cent.

We have never irrigated or watered any part of our orchards.