How to Get a Race of Hardy Fruits for the Northicest. 133 



The road to a race of hardy fruits for the northwest is not paved, and 

 it may be long, but all botanical and biological science points in but one di- 

 rection. Where shall we begin the advance? What races and varieties 

 oflfer most promise of speedy relief. 



DeCandoUe tells us that our own apples probably originated somewhere 

 in the region between Trebizond or Ghilan, in north Persia, south of the 

 Caspian sea, and that its prehistoric area extended thence nearly to Europe. 



He adds : " No author mentions it growing in Siberia or Mongolia, or in 

 Japan." Hence all our Siberian and Russian apples must be regarded as 

 descended, with variations, from this primitive form. President Berckmans 

 says his Russian apples appeared by their names to have been carried to 

 Russia from the countries of Germanic-speaking races. Mr. Barry noted 

 the same thing among his importations, and a glance over any list of late 

 Iowa importations betrays the same ear-marks. 



Seedling reproduction in a severe climate may have produced modifi- 

 cations which will render them of extra value as breeders here. This will 

 soon be known. The veteran Peter M. Gideon has produced, by crosses with 

 the Siberian crab, some sorts that in Iowa nurseries now show a better 

 adaptability than any of the Russians, showing less damage from climatic 

 influences and less disease from needed pruning in nursery. These facts 

 are visible and undisputed. They are vastly encouraging to the travelers in 

 the new road. 



Another most remarkable exhibit was made the other day at an Iowa 

 horticultural gathering ; nothing less than an apple nearly as large as the 

 average Roman Stem crisp, juicy and well-flavored except in one respect. 

 The tree that bore it was the lineal grandson of a wild crab from our thickets. 

 It was a seedling from the Soulard crab, supposed to be crossed with a fine 

 summer apple, and the original Adamic nature of the grandsire was too ap- 

 parent. Yet it seemed to me, on the whole, more palatable than any Rus- 

 sian on the tables at the same time. 



If all modern science be not at fault, if the doctrine of the survival of 

 the fittest be not a delusion, these denizens of our own thickets, having been 

 bred through all the ages to meet and endure the vicissitudes of prairie con- 

 ditions, ought to be brought out and yoked to the car of civilization. DeCiin- 

 doUe says the lake dwellers of Savoy, Lombardy and Switzerland, before the 

 use of metals, made great use of apples, drying them for winter provisions. 

 They had two kinds, one somewhat less than an inch lengthwise, the other 

 rather more, both being still a little larger cut across. From their abund- 

 ance he thinks they may have been cultivated for food. These s'zes do not 

 exceed many of our wild crabs in a state of nature, which may be promptly 

 enlarged by cultivation and abundant nutriment. 



As to exact methods, thousands of men in the northwest are competent 

 to place a graft of Russian, or Siberian, or native crab, or some well-adapted 

 cross-bred descendant of them, in the top of a bearing tree, and repeat the 

 process many times. When the graft fruits, there is a reasonable probability 



