The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1886-04-28

not in my own orchard-on young trees
1t was about ten days ago that hap
pened to call at house in the CITY,
where the lady of the house was pairing
some of the fruit for pies. Some of the
specimens were very large and hand
some, and all were very perfect of their
kind. l was struck with their beauty
of form and color, and the clear solid
character of the fruit after it was pared &,
cored and sliced. The woman who was
pairing them said they made excellent
pies and the clearest and whitest of
sauce. begged few specimens and
carried them home and tried them
again, and members of my family pro-
nounced them good. If they would al
ways grow as good as those, / should
be inclined to agree with the late Mr..
Downing, and say they were good to
very good. Downing says: Flesh
white, tender, moderately juicy, pleas
ant sub-acid. Good to very good
"Thomas says: Flesh whitish, ten
der, with mild, good, but not rich,
sub-acid flavor / am satisfied thatthis
apple is destined to become very pop
ular variety as cooking apple even here
at the East. 1t is already very popular
at the West for both home use and the
market. There are several things to
recommend the apple. The tree is very
hardy, free grower, with full round
head, and an early and abundant bearer.
The fruit is very uniform and attractive
in appearance. The flesh is white, firm,
yet tender and juicy. Its perfect form
and smoothness recommend it highly as a
parer and slicer. What more is wanted?
Flavor, you say. All! but the common
mass of people don't care fig for fla
vor. They care more for getting their
stomachs filled with something that is
good and palatable, and the Ben Davis
is good enough. The tree is called
hardy, but has it and will it prove hardy
in Aroostook and other northern coun-
ties? If the Ben Davis apple-tree
should prove as hardy in Aroostook as
the Wealthy, and should succeed in ma
turing its fruit, it will lead that beauti-
full apple, because, although inferior in
appearance and quality, it will bear
handling better and keep much longer.
believe / could do well, even here in
Kennebec county, in setting out three
or four acres of this variety"
We have had dozen years expert
ence with the Ben Davis in Kentucky
and nearly twenty years in Northern
Vermont. AT its best it is all that Mr..
Atherton supposes. 1t is hardy, with
out being entirely iron-clad. Winter
killing does not turn altogether on tenn
perature, and the Ben Davis often suf-
fers in the bark by sun-action in winter
when the temperature is not severe
enough to harm it. But forty degrees
below zero will practically destroy a
Ben Davis orchard, and very sudden
alterations of temperature affect it
much more than they do Russians, like
Duchess of Oldenburgh and Tetofsky.
Wealthy is only semiRussian Cor semi
Siberian), but it is harder against cold,
winter sun and violent changes than
Ben Davis. Last winter wiped out all
our Ben Davis trees some forty
though many of them were of consider
able size, and had produced large guam
titles of apples. But the trees have
never been entirely healthy, and we
are glad to replace them with the ever
reliable Russians, or with Wealthy. -
We feel sure that Ben Davis can be
grown in Maine, and be perfectly safe
seventy-fve miles north of the Baldwin
limits. But we should not plant it
where the Baldwin succeeds, unless it
were to sell after the Baldwin is out of
the market, and we are not sure that it
keeps much better than Baldwin when
grown side by side. In the Northwest
it is the great and standard market
apple, as the Baldwin is in the East.
Its true headquarters is in Kentucky,
Southern Illinois, Missouri and South
ern Iowa. The fiat prairie does not
suit it, but the farther north it can be
grown the better it keeps, and the
poorer its quality. 1t can never become
rival to the Wealthy, which belongs in
the next one hundred miles north.