Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1880-02-18
Hardy Winter Apples.

For the northern counties Of Vermont,
and especially for the northeastern and
mountain towns, there has been 80 great
difficulty in finding any sorts of keeping APP
pies, the trees Of which were sufficiently re-
sistant to the cold Of winter, that orchard
ing has scarcely been attempted there on
any large scale. All those parts of the state
have depended upon Southern New Hamp-
shire, Massachusetts, aud the Champlain
towns for their winter supply Of fruit. Even
the farmers themselves have thoughtit easier
and better to grow some other crop, like po-
tatoes, and exchange them for apples. But
the consequence has been, in most cases,
that apples have been regarded rather in
the light of a luxury than as necessary ar
ticle of food, as they are universally con-
sidered where they can be easily grown.
This is 80 great an evil that many times 1t
has prevented people from moving into
those towns when otherwise they were well
pleased with them, and would have bought
farms there. A farm with good orchard
of grated fruit will always bring better
price and sell quicker than one without;
and it is especially Objectionable to local
ity that it not only has no orchards, but is
supposed by its inhabitants to be incapable
of having them.
BY the perseverance of some few lovers of
fruit it can now be said that this difficulty is
overcome. Already Orleans county, perhaps
the coolest of all the counties of the state, is be-
ing dotted over with thrifty young orchards,
and the farmers, once utterly discouraged
by their failures with New York aud Massa-
chusetts varieties, are now again setting out
trees of varieties that have either originated
in their own county, or have been brought
from northwestern states like Wisconsin
and Minnesota, where the winters are even
harder than in the mountains of Vermont
So great is the progress already made that
many farmers in Orleans county now not
only grow all the apples required by their
own families, but sell quantities running
from $50 or 500 worth up to- in at least one
instance, over 81 900 in season.
The Oldest of these orchards, and the one
at present yielding the largest crops, is that
of Mr.. Owen Donegan of South Troy, who
was, some twenty-five years ago, gardener
for Judge Paddock Of st. Johnsbury. When
he settled on farm for himself in Troy he
began at once to set out an orchard, and by
perseverance, amid many mistakes and
losses, now has, at last, about five hundred
| haa oh ha hos in fay
able seasons, sold over 81, 200 worth of fine
fruit. Mr.. Wallace Scott of Newport raised
three hundred bushels of good apples, many
Of them winter fruit, last fall. There are
perhaps dozen other orchards on the lake
road between Newport village and the Can
ada line from which more or less apples are
marketed. In Derby there are thirty or
more farms upon which surplus of apples
are grown. The brothers Curtis and Per-
kins Wiley have each quite large orchards.
Mr.. N. F. Ball has a fine young orchard al
most upon the end of Indian Point, near the
trotting park and between that and the
village of Newport the agricultural editor of
this paper has an orchard of fourteen hun
dred trees, most of them planted within the
last six years, but already yielding consider
able and rapidly increasing surplus for sale.
In Charleston, Salem, Coventry Irasburgh,
Troy and Westfeld, the same progress in
fruit growing is to be noticed, and since the
earlier settings have begun to produce fruit
there is quite an excitement upon the sub.
ject, and almost every farmer is putting out
trees.
For early fall apples they have the Peach
apple and the Duchess OF Oldenburgh, with
few trees of Tetofsky for August eating.
The late fall apples found most successful
are the st. Lawrence and Plumb's Cider.
The winter fruit most generally acceptable
for hardness, productiveness, size and good
quality are the Wealthy Qrom Minnesota),
large red apple of very fine quality, which
keeps well into February, and sometimes
longer; the Magog Red Streak, large yell
low apple with red streaks, that keeps two
months longer the Pewaukee (from Wiz
consin), that resembles the Duchess of Old
enburgh (of which it is a seedliug), but
keeps all winter and the SCOTS Winter,
very productive apple of medium size, dark
red, immensely productive and an extra
ordinary keeper, being at its best for eat
ing in May and June. Besides these the
Fameuse is grown in favorable localities
with success, and the Mortified Beauty is
highly regarded as an extra nice apple for
home use, though too tender in flesh for
shipping. With the varieties named a sue
cession covering the whole year can be had.
and those who will care for their trees will
| fiud that an acre in orchard will, after six
years, pay better than any other four acres
on the farm. There is no doubt that any
variety which succeeds in Orleans county
will do still better in Washington, Lamoille,
Caledonia and upper Franklin and it would
be strange indeed if the more enterprising
men of Orleans should begin before long to
ship their surplus fruit south. But they
will do it, and successfully compete with
shippers from below, unless their neighbors
"spunk up" and grow their own apples.
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