THE GRAVENSTEIN APPLE.
Those readers of the Canadian Horticulturist who are best acquainted with this apple, will fully corroborate anything that can be said in its praise. It derives its name from the place of its birth, Gravenstein, in Holstein, Germany, and has the reputation of being one of the best apples of Northern Europe. The reputation it enjoys there has been fully maintained by it in America, and here it ranks as one of our very best and most valuable October apples. It has been widely disseminated throughout the Dominion, and is highly esteemed. The trees thrive well in Nova Scotia, and certainly in a large part of Ontario, having been reported as bearing fruit in the county of Renfrew. They are of an upright habit, stout bodied, and form large, spreading heads; come into bearing early, and are very productive.
The fruit is of large size, and when ripe is of a bright-yellow color, most beautifully striped and splashed with various shades of red and orange. The flesh is tender, crisp, and juicy, with a high aromatic flavor; in quality ranking “best.” It is excellent as a cooking apple, and as valuable for the dessert, pleasing to the eye by reason of its beauty, and delighting the palate with its exquisite flavor. In the markets it always commands the highest price of any of its season, and on that account may be profitably grown in limited quantity for a convenient market.
It is not desirable to multiply fall-ripening varieties of apples, indeed we already have too many of them for profit. The wise plan will be to select two or three of the very best, and plant enough of these to meet the demand. A very few kinds will meet the wants of the family, and fewer yet will be enough for market. It is a great mistake, but one that is very often made, that of planting out a great many varieties of apples. The experience of all who have grown fruit for profit coincides in this, at least, that a large quantity of only one variety of saleable apples is much more remunerative than the same quantity made up of a great number of kinds.
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AUTUMN MEETING.
The usual autumn meeting was held in the Town Hall, at Sarnia, on Wednesday, the eleventh day of September, 1878. President Burnet being absent at the New York State Fair, the Secretary called the meeting to order, which was duly organized by choosing Chas. Arnold, of Paris, chairman. After the reading of the minutes, Messrs. Ebenezer Watson, George Mill, and Townsend G. Vidal were appointed a committee to examine and report upon the seedling fruits exhibited; and Messrs. Joshua Adams, Hugh Smith, and Chas. Duncan, a committee to prepare subjects for discussion. While the latter committee were considering their report, the meeting proceeded to the discussion of pear culture and pear blight.
W. Mowbray grew pear trees in clay soil, in what used to be a garden, but was now in grass, he had not seen any blight, but some varieties winter killed; had found the Flemish Beauty the most hardy. E. Watson had succeeded in getting some very fine pears, but the blight has always destroyed his trees. Near the water the crop of fruit this year is good, but on farms away from the lake shore, the late frosts injured it very much. James Watson had not suffered much from pear blight until lately. His trees are growing in clay soil on the bank of a creek, in the Township of Moore. Bartlett is too tender, Beurre d’Anjou has stood the winters, Doyenne d’Ete, and Beurre Clairgeau stand well, Clapp’s Favorite does well, is hardy and good, Flemish Beauty has not suffered in any way. Thought he had greatly benefitted some of his pear trees which showed blighted spots on the trunk, by wrapping over them a mixture of clay, sulphur, and lime. Charles Duncan said that Flemish Beauty and Clapp’s Favorite promise to be hardy, and suited to the climate of his section, Township of Moore, and that there had been no blight on these varieties with him. Had found leached ashes very beneficial to fruit trees. Thos. Watson, of Sarnia, had found Flemish Beauty and Clapp’s Favorite, and indeed all sorts of pears, to lose their leaves, they would spot and curl up. Joshua Payne said that Flemish Beauty does well, though some of the trees blight, the Bartlett does well, also the Seckel, Clapp’s Favorite, and Beurre Clairgeau. Thinks the pear trees do better without cultivation, but spreads a little manure occasionally on the surface of the ground around the trees, which acts as a mulch, and keeps the ground from cracking in drouth. Thomas Watson said that he used saw-dust and chips as a mulch, and found that his trees were infested with the borer, and asked if this mulch was the cause of the attacks of the borer. W. Saunders replied that it was not the cause, and that if an alkaline wash were applied to the trees it would prevent the borer from attacking them, it would prevent the beetle from laying its eggs, or kill them if laid. That it would not kill the borers however if they have got into the tree. E. Watson had never mulched his trees with saw-dust or chips, but had plenty of borers. Jas. Dougall, of Windsor, was asked in regard to Eliot’s Early Pear, and replied that it was larger than Doyenne d’Ete, a week earlier, and superior in quality. The tree is a strong grower, and very hardy.
The committee on subjects suggested for discussion the question, what varieties of fruit are successfully cultivated along the shore of lake Huron and the river St. Clair; and how far has the fruit crop in that district been injured by the spring frosts this year? Thos. C. Wheatley, residing near the lake in the Township of Sarnia, said that he had grown only apples and peaches. Of the summer apples, he grew Early Harvest and Red Astracan, the latter had proved the most profitable. The Porter yields well, but is not so marketable as a red apple; he wants a good red apple, ripening after the Red Astracan, for market purposes; has just planted the Benoni to see how that would answer. Rhode Island Greening fruits abundantly, has a good reputation, and is inquired for by purchasers. The Baldwin is not so even in size, and hence not as profitable. Cayuga Red Streak bears when young and abundantly, but the fruit is too large, prefer to handle smaller apples. The Spitzenburg spots and cracks badly on my sandy soil. Pewaukee has just fruited with me. Have planted largely of Early Crawford, but have not found them to be good bearers, they never have given me more than a quarter of a crop. Hale’s Early has done very well with me; at first it did not, but as the trees grew older the fruit rotted, yet I found it more profitable than the Crawfords. Late Crawford generally ripens, but it is not much more prolific than Early Crawford. Serrate Early York does well, but the Large Early York is unproductive. Am pleased with the Amsden; and old Mixon succeeds well, it is large, attractive, and profitable. The frost did very little injury to large fruits in my vicinity, but the strawberry crop was seriously hurt. Raspberries were a fine crop. Peaches were not hurt by the May frost, though we had from two to five degrees of frost. D. Nesbit, of Plympton Township, stated that peaches frequently winter-kill at his place, which is five miles from the lake shore. The seedling peaches were not injured by the late frost, but it seriously injured all the grape vines. With the exception of the Oswego Beurre, which has a good crop, my pear trees have no fruit this year. My soil is clay with a mixture of gravel. James Watson has found that in his stiff clay soil the peach trees do not stand the winter, but die out. James Johnson, of Bosanquet, remarked that on the lake shore apples do well, there being no summer frosts to hurt; this year there is a good crop along the lake for a strip about a mile in width, but further back the frost of last May has seriously injured the fruit. Have found the Old Mixon Peach more hardy than Hale’s Early or the Early Crawford. The Concord, Adirondac, Salem, and Isabella grapes ripen well. Plums do well if the trees are jarred and the Curculio destroyed. John Carr, Sarnia Township, says he can not grow peaches well, they winter-kill. Pear and cherry trees do well. Plums rot badly. Have a good crop of apples this year. James Dougall, of Windsor, advised that the rotting plums be gathered as fast as they appear, and taken away from the vicinity of the trees, so as to prevent the rot from spreading. T. D. Watson, Sarnia Township, found all the cultivated peach trees to die down to the ground. The Sweet Cherry trees and the Maydukes did not bear any fruit, did not blossom, though the trees grew well. Seedling peach trees grew and bore fruit. Is too far from the lake to feel the beneficial effects of the water, the late spring frosts this year having killed the fruit in his neighborhood, while close to the lake and river there was a good crop. James Watson, Moore Township, said that cherry trees, even the Mayduke and Kentish, will not thrive on the clay soil with us, but on the sandy soil they do well; and Charles Duncan added, that we are very subject to summer frosts, which usually injure all our fruit crops. Hugh Smith, of Sarnia, remarked that in that vicinity, what was usually called the Kentish Cherry grew freely from suckers, was hardy and productive.
Inquiry was made concerning the borer in the peach tree, but it did not seem to prevail to any serious extent in that vicinity. W. McK. Ross, of Chatham, complained that it was very bad there, and that he had suffered severely from them. He had also found a snapping or click beetle, brown, and about half an inch long, laying eggs in crevices of the bark near the collar of his peach trees. W. Saunders, London, replied that the larvæ of the click beetles do not bore into living trees, hence no danger was to be apprehended to the peach trees from this source. The Ægeria Exitiosa, which bores our peach trees, looks very like a slender wasp, with a steel-blue body, and in the female the abdomen is marked with a broad orange-colored belt. She lays her eggs upon the tree at the collar, which hatch out and bore into the soft bark at the surface of the ground. Driving nails into peach trees has no effect upon the borer, nor will boring holes into plum trees and filling them with sulphur have any tendency to keep away the Curculio. John Bartlett, Warwick, inquired about the Utah Hybrid Cherry; to which James Dougall, of Windsor, replied that it is not a cherry, it is more nearly allied to the plum, it is only a small bush, and the fruit is worthless.