SOME NEW APPLES FROM KNOWN PARENTS.* 



F. H. HALL. 



The apple must be called America's leading 

 Apple varieties fruit, yet almost no careful breeding of it has 

 mainly chance hitherto been done. Of 698 varieties de- 

 seedlings, scribed in " The Apples of New York," both 



male and female parent are certainly known 

 for only one variety ,*• one parent is known and the other guessed, 

 for two other kinds ; four are held to be sports from known vari- 

 eties; and the female, or seed-producing, parent, is given for 39 

 kinds. Of the remaining 650 varieties, 71 are said to be seedlingij 

 (of unknown parentage) ; but, for the great majority of the kinda 

 notliing is positively known as to the origin. This poor showing 

 for scientific, commercial or careful amateur apple breeding is duei 

 to several causes: Breeding tree fruits of any kind is time-con- 

 suming and space-demanding; the pecuniary rewards for individ- 

 uals are inconsiderable or altogether wanting; institutions organ- 

 ized to do plant breeding have felt obliged to work in other fields 

 where results could be more quickly secured and would mean more 

 when obtained ; and lastly, plant breeding, especially breeding of 

 tree fruits, has until recently seemed largely a matter of guess- 

 work and chance — a process most of whose fundamental laws 

 were unknown. 



*A reprint of "Popular Edition" of Bulletin No. 350; see p. 443 for th« 



Bulletin. 



[840] 



