New Yokk Agricultural Experiment Station. 455 



The material. — The material of the fol]o\ving discussion 

 comes from 125 apple crosses growing on the grounds of the 

 Geneva Station. The original number of seedlings was 148 

 of which 46 grew from crosses made at the Station in 1898 and 

 102 from crosses made in 1899, the comparatively small num- 

 ber of 23 having fallen by the wayside from seed-pan to fruiting 

 age. The seedlings were grown in the greenhouse from plant- 

 ings made the first year in March and the second year in Feb- 

 ruary, the seeds having been stratified during the winter. The 

 young trees were transplanted to nursery rows in the open as 

 soon as weather permitted. Of the 125 crosses, but 106 have 

 so far fruited. 



Method of crossing. — A description of the method of crossing 

 now in use, much the same when these crosses were made, may 

 be of interest to fruit growers who have never performed the 

 operation. The blossom of the apple, of course, needs no de- 

 scription other than to say it is a hermaphrodite — that is, both 

 male and female organs are found in the same flower. In cross- 

 ing, young flowers are chosen, on the plant selected as female 

 parent, in which the anthers have not yet opened. The stamens 

 bearing the anthers are removed with a sharp scalpel or small 

 forceps. A few days later the stigma is pollinated with pollen 

 from a flower of the plant selected to be the male parent. 

 Accuracy is safeguarded by taking the pollen from a flower which 

 has been protected by a paper bag. The treated flower is then 

 enclosed in a paper bag to protect it from other pollen until seeds 

 have set. After a week or two the paper bag is removed and one 

 of cheesecloth substituted to remain as proteetion for the fruit 

 until harvest. The greatest care must be exercised in making 

 different crosses to have fingers and tools sterile, probably best 

 accomplished by the use of alcohol before each operation. The 

 pollinating should be done on a bright, sunny day. 



Management of the trees in this experiment. — In the spring 

 of 1901, under the direction of Professor S. A. Beach, then in 

 charge of horticulture at this Station, the crosses were all top- 

 worked in bearing trees in a variety orchard. These grafts 

 began bearing in 1904 and have continued to come into bearing 

 until the present year, all now living having borne some fruit. 

 The grafting of the seedlings on bearing trees to hasten the pro- 

 duction of fruit was very unsatisfactory and in breeding tree 



