Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1914-01-07
APPLE GROWING.
W.P.A." Furnishes Read
ersofK.J.WithMoreEVdenC
One Of Names Leading Orchar-
distsCOnvinced Of Baldwin Worth.
Some Other Fancy Grades and Meth.
DDS Of SeIec tion.-now Best to Pack.


ers who has found satisfaction in the
| Liverpool market, has kindly furnish
| ed the Kennebec Journal with the
| following treatise upon the selection.
use and handling of the so-called
! fancy fruits:
/ Editor kennebec Journal:
! The apple is the king of fruits, no
/ one will question that and the Bald
win variety is king, from a CONNER
eial standpoint when quantity raised
| and market value is considered There
are a few other varieties which aver
| age higher prices but not many, not
ably the Newtown, Pippin and McIn-
! tosh Red, the former receiving the
! highest price per box or barrel of any
i apple raised. What is a fancy" APP
/ pie? To determine that, three things
must be taken into account-siZe, color
and quality; with some it is size, with
/ others color but with those who have
a refined, educated taste it is quality.
The English people used to swear by
the "Ribstone Pippin"-an old variety
nearly out of date-but now by the
"Newtown Pippin" of which there are
| two kinds the Yellow and the Green,
both originating on Long Island Sound.
Downing ranks the Green variety as
| the highest in flavor, next to which is
| the Yellow Newtown Pippin. Boxes
| of Newton Pips from California and
| Oregon have sold this year in the
| Liverpool market for almost three dol
! lars per box.
| What is fancy? That depends. Hen
ry Ward Beecher said God might
have made a better berry than the
strawberry but he didn't think he did
and his favorite apple was the Spitz-
enherg, a spicy, high-flavored apple
/ In the small and medium sized fancy
dessert apples the Snow and McIn-
/ tesh stand at the head in New Eng
/ land and Canada, the Jonathan and
| Spitzenberg in the middle west, the
! Newton Pippin, Jonathan and Deli
cious in California and Oregon, the
/ Albemarle Pippin and York Imperial
/ in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Vir-
ginia As ] said if size alone is con-
| sidered then King, Twenty Ounce,
| VOLTS River and Alexander are sure
| " fancy apples, though coarse grain
| ed and second or third rate in quality.
! The Northern Spy is large apple but
l did not class it with the above varie-
| ties because 1t has a very high
sprightv flavor though not rich, like
! the delicious wine flavor of the Nc
Intosh. When my Spy trees were
| young and thrifty they produced a
| good percentage of fancy apples, kept
| till May they sold one year in the Bos-
1 hot nd hQ
following year in the same market for
| IS per barrel.
! The Baldwin As a Fancy.
But what about the Baldwin as a
| fancy apple? II does not claim that
/ distinction only that it is one of the
best apples grown if not the very
best) for profit over wide territory.
When we'll grown it is Of fine color
and a skin so tough that one could
almost play ball with it without much
injury. Downing speaks well of it.
says it has a rich sugary taste and
ranks it from good to very good.
In every Baldwin orchard there is a
certain percentage of fancy apples on
| account of size and their splendid
color In every 100 barrels as they
| come in from the orchard, there may
| be and ought to be 10 to Is barrels Of
strictly fancy ones and no more I'M
| less the orchard is young, we'll pruned
| and highly fortified. when there will
| certainly be much higher percent
! age What is the best use you can
make of them in boxes or barrels for
market? In barrels every time. Why?
Because, although you may get high
er price for boxing the 10 to Is barrels
/ you have lowered the market value of
/ the remainder to such an extent that
the average value Of your lot of ap-.
ples--be they 100 or 1000 barrels--will
be much less than the whole lot in
barrels. You need all' the fancy ones
| for facing.
What is facing and why? Facing is
putting your fancy apples stem down.
ward on the bottom Of the barrel till
it is covered and placing a few just
as good next to them before filling the
barrel That will require nearly half
bushel and it will absorb all your
fancy apples in packing properly so to
100 barrels But why all that fuss?
1t is because the market demands it.
When they get into the lobbers' and
retailers hands, they are opened on
| the faced end where those beautiful
highly colored Baldwins or other fruit
is exposed to gaze and the attraction
is so tempting that a quick sale fol-
lows Does the consumer expect the
| whole barrel of apples to be like those