small, very slender and long, almost black, mostly abortive. Ripe in October. ART. V. Descriptions and Engravings of Three New Apples. By the EDITOR. HAVING, in our several volumes, described and figured upwards of seventy varieties of pears, embracing many of the newest and most choice kinds, we now intend to devote the same attention to that most valuable fruit, the apple. Having collected together more than two hundred of the best varieties, and upwards of one hundred new American seedlings, and planted out specimen trees, of which several will come into bearing the present year, we shall have the opportunity of describing them from specimens produced under our own eye, and shall be enabled to give all the particulars of growth, productiveness, &c. These, we trust, will prove as interesting and instructive to pomologists as our articles on the pear. We now commence with the descriptions of three new and superior varieties, one of which has just been introduced to the notice of cultivators. The two first have already been briefly described in our pages, but we have not seen any description of the last. For the very fine specimens of the Red Canada and Northern Spy, we are again indebted to our friends in Western New York, Mr. Bissell of Rochester, who sent us the former, and J. H. Watts of the same city, who forwarded us a bushel of beautiful specimens of the latter. To Mr. Watts also, we are indebted for some account of the Northern Spy, which we have embodied in our description of that apple below. The varieties are as follows: I. TWENTY OUNCE. Mag. of Hort. Vol. X. p. 210. Gov. Seward's, Of some collections in New York. Of Cayuga county, New York. The first knowledge we had of this apple was in the autumn of 1843, when some very fine specimens were presented for exhibition, before the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, by George Howland, Esq., of New Bedford, who procured them from trees on his farm in Cayuga county, New York. From their great beauty, as well as excellence, the committee awarded Mr. Howland a premium, and requested a few scions for distribution among the members, which were duly forwarded for that object. In the spring of 1844, we were fortunate in procuring a small tree of this variety, together Fig. 10. Twenty Ounce Apple. with several other new apples, selected from the orchards of the west, and the past year it produced two very beautiful specimens, not quite so large as those exhibited by Mr. Howland but of the size shown in our engraving, (fig. 10;) the tree from which they were gathered not being more than four feet high. If proves fully equal to the character we then gave it, and taking all its qualities into consideration, it must rank as one of the finest early winter apples we possess. Where it originated we have no information. The trees appear to be mostly confined to Cayuga county, New York. Size, large, about three and a half inches deep and four broad: Form, round, regular, slightly ribbed at the base: Skin, fair, smooth, dull yellowish green in the shade, but nearly covered with bright orange red, in numerous short stripes, mottlings and splashes, and dotted with rather large prominent grayish specks: Stem, short, about half an inch, rather slender, and moderately inserted in a somewhat contracted deep cavity: Eye, medium size, closed, and sunk in a medium sized open basin: Flesh, yellowish white, rather coarse, crisp and tender: Juice, plentiful, pleasantly acid, and high flavored: Core, large and rather open. Ripe in November and keeps till January. II. NORTHERN SPY. Mag. of Hort. Vol. X. p. 275. In the latter part of May 1844, specimens of the Northern Spy were exhibited at the rooms of the Massachusetts Horti جیسے Fig. 11. Northern Spy Apple. cultural Society, from Messrs. Ellwanger and Barry, of Rochester, New York. This was its first introduction to the notice of Eastern cultivators; it proved to be a fine apple, and trees were much sought after by amateurs and nurserymen. From Rochester, many trees were sent to this vicinity, and the variety is now pretty generally distributed. We are therefore happy to have the opportunity to give an account of it, and an engraving from some superior specimens A recently sent us by J. H. Watts, Esq. of Rochester. variety possessing such superior qualities is deserving of the most extensive cultivation. It has been stated by some writers in Western New York, that when the trees become old they produce only small and inferior fruit, and that it is only for a few years, when they are in their greatest vigor, that they bear good-sized and sound apples: this has also been contradicted, and we should think that the statement might be rather premature; for the variety is so new that few large orchards can yet exist, and the difference of soil or location may make much difference in regard to the fairness of the product. At any rate, it is a variety well worth cultivation, for in our estimation it is fully equal to any apple we possess, not excepting the Baldwin, the favorite of New England. The following information in regard to its origin, &c. has been communicated by Mr. Watts: "I take great pleasure in sending you a box of Fruit, known with us as the Northern Spy apple. "My object (this season) has been to introduce it, believing it to be equal to any grown. One of its peculiar properties is that it keeps so well in ordinary seasons: it is in its perfection. in April and May, and is then as fresh as a June apple. This year now the past one, all fruit has ripened earlier with us than usual, and consequently many of the Spys are ripe. For a description, and somewhat of its history, I am indebted to the Genesee Farmer, of the year 1845. It originated in the town of East Bloomfield, state of New York, in the orchard of the late Oliver Chapin, and has been known but for some five or six years. The first of the fruit seen in our city, a friend tells me, he discovered in the month of May, 1841, and he was delighted with its appearance and soon discovered its fine flavor, and on inquiry he found that it was a supposed seedling or natural fruit, and it has proved so, and one which has not its superior in our country. "Young trees, or those that have carefully been pruned, produce abundant crops, and the fruit is of large size and extremely beautiful. "The tree is a rapid, upright and handsome grower, wood dark brown, covered with gray-colored specks or dots. Very easily distinguished from any other. Fruit somewhat coni cal, sometimes slightly ribbed and frequently will measure twelve inches in circumference; stalk about three fourths of an inch, set in a broad deep cavity. Eye deeply set in a broad deep basin. Color pale green in the shadedark red on the sunny side. Those fully exposed to the sun are entirely covered with a fine deep red. Flesh yellowish white, tender, juicy and high flavored, with a peculiar musky perfume. The Farmer says" This, like all popular fruits, is counterfeited by the men and boys who sell fruit around the streets and corners, and every apple they can find that in any way resembles the Northern Spy is so called." To show you how much prized amongst us, I need only say that while other apples-such as "Swaars," "Spitzembergs," "BellFlowers," "Seek-no-Further," and other choice fruit, sell for one dollar per barrel, the "Spys" bring from two dollars and fifty cents to three dollars per barrel. Our Farmers and Horticulturists have been grafting of this fruit to a great extent, and in two years more it will be quite plenty and will still command a high price. "The samples sent are taken from a barrel of a lot of sixtyeight barrels, which I purchased this season, and I have been particularly gratified that I have had it in my power to send them abroad. "They have been admired in New York, Albany, Connecticut, Michigan, and I presume in Europe, as some have been sent there, and those I now send you I hope shall find favor in the eyes of the Bostonians." We add our description from specimens before us :— Size, large, about two and a half inches deep, and three and a half broad: Form, roundish conical, flat and broad at the base, tapering much towards the crown, which is small: Skin, fair, smooth, yellow on the shady side, but nearly covered with bright glossy red and distinct stripes of rich purplish crimson extending nearly to the eye: often having a blotch of russet around the stem, and covered with yellow scattered specks: Stem, short, about half an inch, rather slender, and very deeply inserted in a large wide open cavity: Eye, small, and rather deeply sunk in a medium-sized, somewhat ribbed, and abruptly depressed hollow: Flesh, yellowish white, fine, crisp and tender: Juice, plentiful, and brisk, of a rich subacid, |