Ladies' Sweeting.

This prime favorite of Chas. Downing originated near Newburgh, New York. Though having many admirers, it finds strong competitors in the Broadwell, Paradise Winter, and some others of the same season.

Tree thrifty, productive.

Fruit large, round, somewhat conic, occasionally angular; Surface smooth, light yellow, striped and splashed with bright red; Dots distinct, large, gray.

Basin medium, often abrupt, folded; Eye very small, closed.

Cavity medium or wide, regular, brown; Stem short, or long and slender.

Core medium, round, closed or open, clasping; Seeds numerous (16), angular; Flesh white, crisp, fine-grained, juicy; Flavor sweet, agreeable; Quality only good (to my taste); Use, table, baking and stock feeding; Season, December.

— John A. Warder, American Pomology: Apples (1867)

THE LADIES' SWEETING APPLE.

Ladies Sweeting. Fruits and Fruit Trees of America.

The Ladies' Sweeting has attracted unusual attention among orchardists and cultivators of fruit, and it has been pronounced by some as "far the finest" winter sweet apple yet produced. It is a very beautiful looking fruit, comparing, in this respect, with the Baldwin, and possesses the excellent quality of keeping into April and May, without the loss of juiciness and flavor, so general with most of our sweet apples. It has not the rich sweet of the Broadwell, which also keeps very late, but what little it loses in this respect is made up in its showy appearance: neither is it so vigorous a growing tree as the Tolman or Danvers Winter Sweet, and some others, but, taking its combined qualities, it must be considered a very valuable variety.

The Ladies' Sweeting, according to Mr. Downing, originated in the vicinity of Newburg, N. Y., and for a long time previous to his account of it in the Fruits and Fruit Trees of America, had only a local reputation,—confined to the banks of the Hudson. The trees were first disseminated from the nurseries of Messrs. Downing, upwards of a dozen years ago, but owing to their moderate growth it is only within a year or two that they have come into bearing beyond their native locality; consequently the fruit is yet too sparingly produced to find its way into the markets.

It has been supposed by some cultivators that it would not succeed so well in our New England climate as in its native locality on the Hudson; but that, like the Newtown Pippin and some other sorts, it would require a more genial climate and warmer soil. A short experience, however, proves that it flourishes as well as the Baldwin. In the garden of the late Capt. Lovett of Beverly, who was one of the first to introduce it here, finer specimens have been raised than we have ever seen elsewhere, and our beautiful drawing is made from fruits received from his collection in 1854. We can safely commend it as suited to our New England orchards.

The tree is a slow grower, making slender annual growths, and an open roundish head. It is late in coming into bearing, but ultimately produces abundant crops.

Tree.—Moderately vigorous, upright, branching off at an open angle, making a roundish head; annual growth short, downy at the ends.

Wood.—Reddish chestnut, slender, and short-jointed; old wood, brownish chestnut; buds, small, short, flattened, erect: Flower-buds, small, woolly.

Leaves.—Small, ovate, broad at the base, narrowing to the point, thick, deep green, prominently and coarsely veined, downy beneath, sharply and deeply serrated, and slightly recurved on the midrib; petioles, short, about half an inch long, stout, downy.

Flowers.—Small; petals round, concave, of a rather dingy shade of white; clusters, small.

Fruit.—Large, about three and a half inches broad, and three inches deep: Form, roundish, regular, very slightly ribbed, and narrowing very little to the crown: Skin, fair, smooth, with a greenish yellow ground, broadly covered with light red, and rather faintly striped with crimson, deepest on the sunny side, and dotted with numerous yellowish specks: Stem, short, less than half an inch long, stout, and rather deeply inserted in a medium-sized, funnel-shaped cavity: Eye, rather large, open, and little sunk in a small ribbed basin; segments of the calyx, woolly: Flesh, greenish white, fine, crisp and very tender: Juice, abundant, sweet, rich, and finely flavored: Core, large, open: Seeds, large, very long, and sharply pointed.

Ripe in January, and keeps well into April and May.

— C.M. Hovey, The Fruits of America (1852)

Ladies' Sweeting.

American. We have repeatedly fruited and met with this variety West, where it seems generally to succeed, but varies much in different soils— often not more than second-rate quality ; always fair, handsome fruit ; profitable for marketing, or stock feeding. "Wood, not very strong: grows thriftily; bears abundantly."

"Fruit, large, roundish ovate, narrowing rapidly to the eye ; skin, very smooth, nearly covered with red in the sun, pale yellowish green in the shade, with broken stripes of pale red. The red is sprinkled with well-marked yellowish gray dots, and covered, when first gathered, with a thin white bloom. There is also, generally, a faint marbling of cloudy white over the red, on the shady side of the fruit, and rays of the same around the stalk. Calyx, quite small, set in a narrow, shallow-plaited basin ; stalk, half an inch long, in a shallow cavity : flesh, greenish white, exceedingly tender, juicy, crisp, delicious, sprightly, agreeably perfumed flavor ; keeps without shelving, or losing its flavor, till May."

— F.R. Elliott, The Western Fruit Book (1865)

Ladies' Sweet.* Medium, roundish-ovate, apex narrow; striped with red on pale yellow ground, a nearly uniform shade of fine red to the sun; faintly marbled or clouded with white over the red, and cavity faintly rayed with white; stalk short, cavity small; calyx and basin small; tender, juicy, agreeable, fine. One of the best winter sweet apples. A profuse bearer. Growth feeble. Fig. 403. Newburgh, N. Y.

— John J. Thomas, The American Fruit Culturist (1903)