Mexico weekly ledger., 1888-10-11
FALL. AND WINTER BEAUTIES
All About the Wonderful Crop of
Missouri Apples-The Va
rieties that are Fa-
vorites.

souri, this year exceeds that of an,
other season in the memory of tbs
oldest resident or in the history o
the State. The season was a pro,
pitious II and as II result, the
magnificent orchards for whief
this Providence-tavored section is
noted. are now presenting busy
scenes. The large trees are al
most borne to the earth by then
weight of fruit and the quality OF
the product is pronounced unex-
celled. Contrary tn the usual or
der of things, the beautiful crop
has in no way diminished the
value of the fruit on the market,
for every apple that has been
grown in North Missouri this sum-
mer now commands Il sale and at
a price not TO be sneezed at.
In Mexico there have establish
ed for the seasons business, COM
mission merchants, who buy all the
apples of the fall and winter varie-
ties raised for miles around. Gath
cred in the streets about their
places of business, from an early
hour until late in the afternoon can
be seen the wagons of farmers,
heavily loaded with apples. SO
great is the supply that large forces
of men are necessary to receive all
of the fruit for sale, and as fast as
a wagon bed is unfreighted, another
load slips into its place. And so
for days and days this traffic has
been going on and for weeks it will
not end.
A representative of the LEDGER
dropped in on one of these mer-
chants this morning and when the
gentleman found a moment of
leisure he was asked to tell some
thing of his business. He kindly
consented, and said:
"This business is not exactly a
new one, but in its present form is
quite novel. l have bought ap-
Piles and shipped them from this
| point season after season for many
years, but | cannot remember any
time that the crop was so good as
now. You see the extent of the
business this morning and we have
only started, l may say. From
now until the close of the season l
expect to barrel and ship nearly
six hundred bushels of apples
daily. keep a large force of men
at work here unloading from the
wagons, sorting and ~barreling the
fruit. All apples with the slightest
indication of unsoundness, are
thrown aside and disposed of at
once to the local trade, before rot
sets in. They are good for present
consumption, but might ruin a.
whole shipment by being allowed
to remain with the sound fruit.
Besides my force here at the house,
I have a number ofmen at work in
the country, who pick, sort and
barrel the apples in the orchard"
"What are the favorite varieties
and what prices do they commando"
"These," answered the mer-
chant, pointing to a barrel of deep,
rich, red apples, "are known as the
Ben Davis variety. They seem to
be the most plentiful, but the de-
mand for them, even this good
season, is greater than the supply.
The Ben Davis is a fine winter ap-
pie and a good cooker. The Will
low Twig, an apple larger than the
Ben Davis, is also much in favor.
1t is green, with a tinge of red on
the side. The Winesap is a small,
dark, red apple, with a white,
juicy meat and has many admirers.
The Roman Beauty looks like the
Willow Twig, but is a large
variety and equally good. These
four varieties are most sought after,
but when the old Missouri Genet
ings commence to come in the de-
mand for them will exceed that of
all the others varieties l have
named, combined. Greetings and
Pippins are good fall varieties, but
cannot be classed as standard. l
send all my apples straightto Cedar
Rapids, Iowa, but some of the
dealers in this section ship to St.
Louis and Chicago. We are pay
ing 25 to 40 cents for apples and
are buying all we can get. If
you want to know anything more
about apples came around when l
am not so busy and I will tell you
something about grating, orchard
culture and the apple business in
general"
The reporter thanked the gentle
men and left the place loaded
down with juicy Winesaps, delici-
Gus Rambows and a ~profusion of
Pippins, Willow Twigs and Roman
Beauties.
P. w. Harding has disposed of
his long established grocery bust
ness on the West Side to Frank B.
Delaplane, who, for over twelve
years, was the Wabash freight
agent In this city. The LEDGER is
glad to state that Mr.. Harding will
remain in this city, and will likely
re-engage in business. Mr.. Della
plane is well and f~avorably known
to all Mexico people, who will re-
ioicp 10 1aarp {b.{ he ,,;u -