No. 7. DErARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 361 



SOME COM.AIENTS AP.OUT IMPORTANT APPLE VARIETIES 



lij H. P. GOULD, U. S. Department of Agriculture. 



In the many lines of progress that have occurred in the rapid 

 development of the fruit industry in recent years, there have been 

 none greater than the changed conceptions regarding the variety 

 in its relation to successful fruit culture. 



Though for many years following the formation of the Ameri- 

 can Pomological Society about the middle of the last century its 

 mos^ conspicuous work was along the line of variety adaptation, 

 its .jfluence was apparently somewhat restricted — much more so 

 than in more recent years — and apparently not largely felt by the 

 mass of those who were lilanting fruit trees. 



In the early days, the fact that a variety was pleasing when 

 grown in a particular place was taken as prima facie evidence in 

 great numbers of instances that it would be equally as desirable a 

 hundred or a thousand miles distant where the environment was 

 entirely different. Not so at the present time. There is nothing 

 more conspicuous to the discerning fruit grower and nothing more 

 interesting that the great variability of varieties in their response 

 to the influence of environment, for w^e have come to think of a 

 variety, not as an entity in itself but of a pl^-stic thing which is the 

 product of the influences under which it is grown. 



It is worth while in this connection to ask: "What are the in- 

 fluences which affect the behavior of a variety, making it valuable 

 in one place and perhaps worthless in some other?" In other words, 

 what constitutes the environment which determines whether a va- 

 riety inherently meritorious, is good or bad in a particular place? 

 In the last analysis, the two great determinants or limiting factors 

 for all plant life, nnd to a considerable extent also of animal life, 

 are temperature and moisture. In the case of cultivated plants 

 we must also add the soil factor and methods of culture. It may be 

 doctrinal heresy to admit it but personally, I put less stress within 

 certain rather broad limits upon the soil factor than upon any of 

 the others that are really dominant in any particular. And for 

 the tree fruits I place greater importance upon the character of the 

 subsoil than upon the surface soil. 



To give satisfactory results with any variety of fruit, a soil must 

 have certain characteristics. It must contain sufficient plant food 

 in au available form to induce a good vigorous j^rowth of wood. 

 In other words, it must be sufficipntly fertile for the end in view. 

 To this end it must contain humus or decaying vegetable matter 

 in considerable quantites. A soil deficient in humus, more or less 

 broadly speaking, is an unproductive or non-fertile soil. It must 

 be a soil that is sufficiently porous and light to permit water to 



