New York Agricultukat. Experiment Station. 449 



Data from The Apples of New York. — ISTo case is recorded 

 in this work of a variety known to have come from a self- 

 fertilized seed. 



The seed parent is given for 39 varieties, probably accurate 

 data for it would be most natural for* a man growing seedling 

 apples to keep a record of the seed parent if he knew it. 



The seed and pollen parents of but one of the 698 apples under 

 consideration are certainly known ; the one is the Ontario, 

 Parents are named for the Pewaukee and Gideon, but in each 

 case one of the parents was guessed. 



Four varieties are said to have come from sports or bud- 

 mutations. 



Sorts from seeds sown without knowledge of either parent 

 and from natural seedlings are put down as chance seedlings ; 

 of these there are 71. 



The origin of 517 of the 698 varieties is unknown. Among 

 these " unknowns " are many of the best commercial and home 

 apples. 



A discussion of this data should give some idea of the past and 

 the present status of apple-breeding. 



Varieties from self-fertilized seed. — That none of the varie- 

 ties of apples grown in America, many of which came from 

 Europe, however, are known to have come from self-fertilized 

 seed is a surprising fact. Either the few men who have tried to 

 produce new varieties of apples have not " selfed " seed, or if 

 such seeds have been produced, the resulting trees have been 

 worthless. There are no records of attempts to obtain varieties 

 of this fruit through self-fertilization. Though some of the 

 chance seedlings or some of those of unknown origin may have 

 so originated, it is not likely, for two reasons, that many have. 

 As is well known, the apple is partially self-sterile, the blossoms 

 of most varieties being much more receptive to pollen from other 

 sorts than to their own. As contributory evidence to this pref- 

 erence for cross-pollination, it may be stated here, although the 

 facts will be set forth more fully later in the text, that it seems 

 almost impossible to obtain self-fertilized seed from the crossed 

 trees of which this bulletin is a record. 

 15 



