There is a strange fascination about new things, and when a new fruit or
new flower is heralded, with considerable flourish of trumpets, great is
the desire to see and to possess the stranger. This is quite natural; we
all love variety, and the advent of a new fruit produces a flutter of
pleasurable excitement among pomologists, quite akin to that produced by
some new discovery in the scientific world. But while it is well to be
interested in the dissemination and testing of new fruits, it is not
well to forget those that have been long and thoroughly tried, and have
stood the test. Designing and unscrupulous persons have often availed
themselves, and still do and will avail themselves of this love of
novelty to sell at high prices fruit trees of some new sort that is not
as valuable or profitable as many that might be purchased at a much more
moderate cost. To-day it shall be our pleasure to call attention to two
of our best summer apples—varieties that have been long tried and have
proved themselves to be well worthy of a place in every fruit garden or
orchard.
The Early Harvest is of American origin, according to the authorities,
but the writer has never seen any account setting forth either the time
or place of its nativity. It has been very widely disseminated, and in
the last report of the American Pomological Society is recommended for
cultivation in thirty-three of the States and Provinces represented in
that Association, extending from Nova Scotia to Texas, and from Maine to
California.
According to our observation, this variety produces the finest fruit
when planted in soils that abound in lime and are thoroughly drained. In
rich alluvial soils, and especially if imperfectly drained, the fruit is
frequently spotted and cracked, and deficient in flavor. But on the
other hand, when the soil is suitable, the fruit is perfectly developed,
fair, smooth, and of high flavor. The tree is a moderate grower, comes
into bearing early, and yields abundantly. The fruit is of medium size,
light yellow with white flesh, juicy, and of a sprightly sub-acid
flavor, ripening in the end of July and beginning of August. It is very
valuable both for cooking and dessert, and worthy of a place in the
smallest collection.
The Red Astracan was introduced into England from Sweden in 1816, and
thence it has been brought to this continent, in no part of which is it
more at home than in Canada. The tree is very hardy and will thrive
vigorously in places where the Early Harvest would suffer from the cold.
It receives the double star of great merit in Nova Scotia and Maine,
Michigan and Wisconsin, and twenty-two other States, and that even as
far south as Louisiana and Texas. It is reported as doing well in the
Counties of Glengarry and Carleton, and may with safety be planted in
very cold parts of our Province; yet we have heard of its failing to
succeed in Arnprior, in the County of Renfrew.
It is one of our most handsome fruits, being of full medium size, of a
dark crimson, covered with a light bloom. The flesh is white, crisp and
juicy, of a rich acid flavor. It is an excellent cooking apple, and its
showy color gives it great popularity in the markets. It begins to ripen
before the middle of August, and continues to ripen its crop gradually,
so that it lasts for some time.
These two varieties of summer apples may be safely recommended for
general cultivation, and while the Red Astracan is the more hardy sort,
and may be planted farther northward than the Early Harvest, yet the
latter, on soils abounding in lime, is by no means a tender tree. Having
these, the possessor may well be content on the score of early apples,
and leave to others the pleasure, and the labor too, of testing new and
untried substitutes.
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