112 EXPERIMENTAL FARMS 



7-8 EDWARD VII., A. 1908 



again Prince Edward Island, where there is a late spring, but where severe frost does 

 not come until late, as compared with the colder parts of Ontario, where the spring is 

 early, but where fall frosts are early also. In order, then, to get an apple most suited 

 to a district or climate and to get it of the season required, it must be originated in 

 that climate. The work of originating apples has been comparatively recent in the 

 colder parts of Eastern Canada and in the Northwestern States, and by far the 

 largest majority of seedling apples of merit which have been produced are summer 

 or autumn kinds. This we think is due to two principal causes. In the first place, 

 because most of the seedlings have been raised from summer or autumn varieties, 

 these being the hardiest, and we should naturally expect that most of such seedlings 

 would be of the same season as their parents. In the second place, and on the other 

 hand, seedlings have been raised from the best late keeping verieties, but which are 

 not hardy enough to stand a test winter, and the seedlings from such trees have not, 

 as a rule, proven hardy. We do not believe that because seedlings are raised in a 

 climate with a short season that the largest proportion of them will prove early apples 

 regardless of their ancestry. We believe that in most cases in the past the ancestry 

 of the seedling varieties originated in the North has not been favourable to the pro- 

 duction of hardy winter varieties. The importance of ancestry in the origination of 

 a hardy winter apple is well illustrated, we think, in a number of cross-bred apples 

 which have fruited at the Central Experimental Farm. Of a cross between Scott's 

 Winter male and MclMahan female made by Prof. John Craig, when horticulturist, 

 23 trees have fruited. None of these are earlier in season than McMahan and 14 of 

 them are later keeping apples. Practically all of them have some visible resem- 

 blance to the parents and some are very similar to both parents. All withstood the 

 test winter of 1903-4. 



It is believed that the basis for the production of the desired winter apple for the 

 north should be a variety or varieties which have withstood test winters in the north 

 and are also the latest keepers of such varieties. 



It has been already said that late keeping varieties mean late ripening of wood, 

 hence tender trees, but such late keeping hardy varieties as have already been origin- 

 ated in the north are of a different class. They are varieties which, although they 

 mature or are fit for use early in the winter^ yet keep all winter with good care. The 

 fact that they are fit for use early means that the wood has ripened comparatively 

 early, and hence is able to withstand the cold. Pomologists are well aware that cer- 

 tain varieties of fruits which are ready for use at the same time as other varieties 

 will keep much longer. It is to this class that the desired winter apple for the north 

 will belong. 



The following winter varieties originated in the north stood the test winter of 

 1903-4 at Ottawa and are just such apples as have been described. 



Canada Baldwin, originated in the province of Quebec. 



Winter Rose, originated in Dundas County, Ont. 



Calumet, originated on Calumet Island, in the Ottawa river. 



Baxter, originated near Brockville, Ont. 



La Victoire, originated in the province of Quebec. 



Stone, originated in Vermont. 



Scott's Winter, originated in Vermont. 



Milwaukee, originated in Wisconsin. 



Other promising unnamed late keeping seedlings obtained from the colder parts 

 of Canada and the United States are growing at Ottawa. None of the varieties above 

 mentioned have all the desired points, but we consider the outlook very bright for the 

 origination of a hardy, productive, long keeping variety of good colour and best 

 dessert quality for the north. 



EXPERIMENTAL SHIPMENT OF APPLES. 



One shipment of 90 boxes of apples was made in 1906. It was consigned ta Thos. 

 Russell, Glasgow, Scotland, and went via ss. Athenia, Donaldson Line, sailing from 



