10. MAIDEN’S BLUSH.—Tree moderately spreading, open top, limbs
slender; grows late in fall, and somewhat liable to winter-killing;
grows well on all good soils; bears young and very abundantly every
year. The fruit large when the tree is not allowed to ripen too large
a crop; white, and blush toward the sun; tender, melting, very juicy,
decidedly acid. The fruit is, even in unfavorable seasons, very free
from cracks, knots, and is always fair; one of the best for drying and
excellent for marketing; should be plucked before it is dead ripe;
ripens from August to October. It is the same as the English
Horthornden. It does not do well grafted on the root; being apt to
burst the first or second winter; buds well, and should be thus
propagated in the nursery. It is a native of New Jersey.
11. WINE APPLE.—Tree spreading but not sprawling; medium grower,
healthy; limbs rather slender; does well on all soils; bears very
young, largely, and every year. Fruit large on young, and medium-sized
on old trees; deep yellow ground covered with red, and russet about
the stem; tender, melting, very juicy, high-flavored, sweet, with a
spicy dash of subacid. One of the richest cooking apples; one of the
most desirable for drying, resembling dried pears. Where known, it is
worth, dried, a dollar and a half a bushel, when other apples command
but seventy-five cents. Ripens first of September and has passed its
prime by November. Eastern writers call it a winter apple, and Kenrick
gives October to March as its season; but, in the West, it seldom sees
the first winter month. Takes by graft and bud pretty well; does well
grafted upon the root; favorable for nursery purposes.
12. HOLLAND PIPPIN.—Tree large and spreading; strong growth; wood
short and stubbed, healthy; bears moderately young; they are averse to
heavy clay and wet soils; on light, dry, rich, sandy soils bears
largely, and of high color and flavor; bears every other year. Fruit
large, very bright yellow, tender, juicy, subacid. The pulp in the
mouth becomes rather viscid, as if the fruit were mucilaginous, which
is agreeable or otherwise according to the taste of the eater. It is
sometimes, but rarely, water-cored. Ripens in October and November;
will keep later, but apt to lose in flavor. Good for drying, but
usually sold green, being a very marketable fruit. Not a good tree for
nurserymen; not willing to come if grafted on the root; does well by
crown-grafting; moderately well by budding, the eye being apt to put
out simply a spur, which can seldom be forced into a branch if
permitted to harden.
13. RAMBO.—This apple is known in New Jersey by the names of Romanite,
Seek-no-further, and Bread and Cheese. The first two names belong to
entirely different apples. The rambo is not to be confounded with the
_Rambours_, of which there are several varieties. Tree upright, and
the most vigorous growth of all trees cultivated in the West; the
easiest of all to bud with, a bud seldom misses, and makes
extraordinary growth the first season; it may well be called the
nurseryman’s favorite; bears very young, abundantly every year, good
on all soils. Fruit medium size, yellow ground with red stripes and
the whole overlaid with a bloom, like a plum; tender, juicy, melting,
subacid, rich; it has a peculiarity of ripening; it begins at the skin
and ripens toward the core; often soft and seemingly ripe on the
outside while the inside is yet hard. Ripens from October to December.
One of the best of all fruits.
14. GOLDEN RUSSET.—This admirable apple is put in the list of fall
fruits, because, though it will keep through the winter, it ripens in
November, and sometimes even in October. Tree, strong grower, upright,
compact top-healthy, grows late in fall and therefore subject to
winter-killing; will grow on all soils, but delights in rich sandy
loams, on which it bears larger and finer fruit. Fruit small, rather
oblong; color yellow, slight red next to the sun; although called
_russet_, there is but a _trace_ of it on the fruit of healthy trees;
tender, melting, spicy, very juicy; in flavor it resembles the St.
Michael’s _pear_ (Doyenné) more nearly than any other apple.
This fruit is the most popular of all late, fall, or early winter
apples, and deservedly, and should be put at the head of the list. A
gentleman near Belfre, Ohio, being applied to for a list of apples to
furnish an orchard of a thousand trees for marketing purposes,
replied, “Take nine hundred and ninety-nine golden russets, and the
_rest_ you can choose to suit yourself.” For nursery purposes it is
rather a backward apple; the buds apt to fail, which occasions much
resetting. It will not do well grafted on the root, being tender and
always largely winter-killed when so wrought. They graft kindly on
well established stocks.
If a larger list of fall apples is desired, we recommend the Fall
Harvey, Gravenstein, Lyscom, Porter, Red Ingestrie, Yellow do. The
Ashmore is a desirable fruit—difficult to raise in the nursery, and
therefore avoided, but the fruit is fine. The Ross Nonpareil is a very
admirable fall fruit of Irish origin.
The list of autumn apples is very large and continually augmenting.
But fall apples are, ordinarily, less desirable than any others; not
from inferior quality, but because they ripen at the season of the
year when peaches and pears are in their glory.