304 State Horticultural Society. 



Mr. Gano — Have a patch of the old Hopkins, which has been out 26 

 years. In that time it has been mowed three times and burned, as sug- 

 gested by Mr. Goodman, and the patch is still in good condition. We 

 cover the row with manure, but have never sprayed. 



NOTES ON FRUIT BREEDING. 



(Prof. N. E. Hansen, State Agricultural College, Brookings, South Dakota.) 



We have been content with chance seedlings for improvement in 

 fruit culture too long. Here and there in the fence corners seeds dropped 

 by chance have sprung up, and although in most cases the fruit has been 

 of no value, some of our best fruits have appeared in this happy-go- 

 lucky way. It is now time that we recognize the full importance of some 

 of the recent discoveries in heredity ; that there is such a thing as scien- 

 tific plant-breeding, and that by a judicious application of these newer 

 principles we can make as much progress in the next generation as has 

 been made in many generations up to the present time. In other words, 

 that it is possible to manufacture varieties to order for special purposes. 

 This is becoming of greater importance every year owing to the varied 

 demands of a civilization ever growing more complex. For the past ten 

 years I have been engaged in developing the native fruits of South Da- 

 kota and other parts of the prairie northwest. I have also worked with 

 the apple and various other fruits from Europe, Siberia, China and Cen- 

 tral Asia. The endeavor has been to bring the ends of the earth together 

 in a horticultural sense, and to improve the present limited fruit list. I 

 do not intend to present before this audience of fruit-growers any de- 

 tailed account of the vicissitudes of such work. The number of seedlings 

 now in cultivation has passed the quarter of a million mark, and I havn't 

 had time to count up lately. My field of view was enlarged in a horti- 

 cultural study trip to Europe in 1894, and to Europe, Central Asia and 

 Siberia in 1897. 



THE APPLE. 



The apple has been under cultivation since the dawn of history, or 

 at least four thousand years. We have been content largely with what 

 has been done in a primitive haphazard way, but let no one say that we 

 liave reached perfection or that we have adapted the ^apple to all our 

 varying conditions We have reached the proper limit in size, but we 

 have not combined in one apple as we should the three points, shipping 

 -capacity, winter keeping and high quality. For special purposes a pretty 



