Page 8 



BETTER FRUIT 



October, igi(^ 



Science Aids Nature in Causing Barren Trees to Bear 



THK pollenization of the sweet 

 cherry previous to the days of 

 huge phinlings was of an un- 

 known quantity; hut with the advent 

 1)1' Ihc large phintings with solitary va- 

 rities or one or two varieties at most, 

 pollenization has turned out to be the 

 most vital of all the problems con- 

 fronting the cherry grower. His trees 

 were coming into the bearing age but 

 there were no cherries to harvest. 

 What caused this apparently phenom- 

 enal condition as contrasted to the 

 heavy bearing condition of the cherry 

 trees of the family orchard? 



For years fine cherries have been 

 raised in the Willamette Valley and at 

 The Dalles, Oregon; the trees usually 

 setting good crops. Being a popular 

 fruit both in the fresh and dried state 

 and as a canned product, it found a 

 ready sale and proved to be a profit- 

 able crop for the orchardist to raise. 

 Hence the large plantings of cherries 

 of the last 12 or 13 years. When many 

 of these plantings reached the age 

 when they should have begun to bear 

 large and profitable crops, it was 

 found that they were producing little 

 or nothing. 



The above serious condition led to 

 an investigation by the Oregon Exper- 

 iment Station eight years ago. This 

 work was carried on under the direc- 

 tion of Prof. V. R. Gardner. Too much 

 credit cannot be given Prof. Gardner 

 for the service he performed for the 

 cherry grower in this investigation. 

 Many theories were advanced to ex- 

 plain these crop failures. Frost, wind 

 and soil conditions were all advanced 

 as reasons for the trees not to set their 

 fruit. Careful investigation failed to 

 ■substantiate these and other theories. 

 Much of the work of this investiga- 

 tion was carried on at The Dalles. 

 The Professor set to work with a 

 view of evolving a cherry which 

 would bear prolifically in the North- 

 west. To this end he pollenated or 

 rather cross-pollenated several varie- 

 ties. The idea was to take the seed 

 of the resulting crosses and plant 

 them, hoping to get a seedling of the 

 desired characteristics. This led to 

 the important discovery that most 

 sweet cherries were sterile and nearly 

 inter-sterile. These discoveries led to 

 further investigation resulting in the 

 discovery that the leading varieties of 

 sweet cherries, Bing, Lambert and Na- 

 poleon (Royal Anne), were self-sterile 

 as well as inter-sterile. This explained, 

 in a minute, why the large plantings 

 were not bearing, for, as a rule, they 

 consisted of no other varieties than 

 the Bing, Lambert and Royal Anne. 

 But, since many small plantings and 

 "back yard or home orchard trees" 

 were producing large crops, there 

 must have been some variety or vari- 

 eties that were furnishing fertile pol- 

 len that was causing the self-sterile 

 and inter-sterile varieties to set large 



By Harry L. Pearcy, Horticulturist, Amity, Oregon 



crops. Such proved to be the case. 

 The Black Republican was one of the 

 first to be found to be a good polkn- 

 izer and was reconunended as such. 

 Other varieties, inckuling the Tartar- 

 ian, Coc, Elton, Wood, and many seed- 

 lings, etc., were found to be of pol- 

 lenizing value. 



Further work was carried on in the 

 hope that a variety valuable as a pol- 

 lenizcr and at the same time a market- 

 able cherry that would bring as high 

 a price as the Royal Anne would be 

 brought to light. A variety fulfilling 

 these conditions has been found, as 

 the wide awake cherry grower knows. 

 This variety is known as the "Long 

 Stemmed" Waterhouse. Whence came 

 this "life saver" of the cherry in- 

 dustry? 



In the early '70s a seedling of the 

 Royal Anne bore fruit on the grounds 

 of Judge Waterhouse at Monmouth, 

 Oregon. As it had the characteristics 

 of a desirable variety, it was propa- 

 gated and named Waterhouse. Some 

 of our best authorities and cherry 

 growers claim that this is not the 

 Waterhouse that is known for its pol- 

 lenization value. It has no value as 

 a pollenizer and is mentioned here 

 only as a matter of information. The 

 Waterhouse that is of particular inter- 

 est to the cherry grower is designated 

 as the "Long Stemmed Waterhouse." 

 The name Waterhouse was most likely 

 attached to it because of its similarity 

 to the Waterhouse growing on the 

 grounds of Judge Waterhouse. The 

 Long Stemmed Waterhouse besides 

 having a long stem has a larger pit 

 than the Royal Anne, is softer of flesh, 

 and is somewhat pointed; otherwise, 

 is similar to the Royal Anne, being 

 impossible to identify when they are 

 in the canned state except that the 

 W^aterhouse has a larger pit. (Future 

 reference to the Waterhouse applies to 

 the Long Stem Waterhouse.) 



The Waterhouse probably origi- 

 nated in the vicinity of Salem, Oregon. 

 At any rate, it was grown in a cherry 

 orchard at that place unknown to the 

 cherry grower himself. While this 

 grower was aware that there was a 

 difference in the cherries in his or- 

 chard, he did not know at that time 

 that his large crops were due to the 

 pollenizing effects of the Waterhouse, 

 which it proved to be. This variety is 

 a more vigorous grower than its prob- 

 able parent, the Royal Anne. Scions 

 from this orchard were used in bud- 

 ding and grafting nursery trees and 

 were naturally sold as Royal Annes. 

 Since the scions were taken from both 

 Royal Annes and Waterhouse, most of 

 the trees sold were Waterhouse, due 

 to the fact that more scion wood was 

 available from the Waterhouse than 

 Royal Annes because of their more 

 vigorous growth, the two varieties 

 being about equal in number in this 

 orchard. The interesting fact in this 



connection, is that all orchards set 

 out with trees from this nursery have 

 been heavy bearers, and we now know 

 that the Waterhouse was responsible. 

 Thus, the reason for the heavy crops 

 of many of the small orchards and 

 "back yard trees" was determined. In 

 all cases, pollenizers, either seedlings 

 of pollenizing value, or of certain 

 named varieties, some of commercial 

 importance and some not, were re- 

 sponsible. Some of these seedling 

 trees and named varieties have been 

 found to be of more value than 

 others; this being determined by the 

 set of fruit on the near-by self sterile 

 varieties. There are certain seedlings 

 that are excellent pollenizers. There 

 are numerous edible varieties such as 

 Black Republican, that are good i)ol- 

 lenizers. In fact, great numbers of 

 Black Republicans were grafted into 

 non-productive orchards a few years 

 back. Under certain conditions these 

 grafts have given good results. The 

 Black Republican, however, is not uni- 

 formally a good pollenizer because of 

 the fact that nearly all sweet, black, 

 small cherries are generally called 

 Black Republicans, these different 

 strains of blacks not having the same 

 value as pollenizers. 



With the Black Republican, as well 

 as with the seedling, we have a tree 

 which bears a heavy crop, but one 

 which in the case of the seedling is 

 worthless and in the case of the Black 

 Republican is a second class cherry 

 and, therefore, not a profitable one to 

 raise except for its pollenizing value. 

 The pollenizer is the most valuable 

 tree in the orchard, so even if the pol- 

 lenizer does not produce commercial 

 fruit, the space taken up by it is well 

 occupied. Fortunately, we have a 

 cherry that is both an excellent pol- 

 lenizer and a profitable market vari- 

 ety. This variety, which is the Water- 

 house, before mentioned, and should 

 be the only one planted or top worked 

 as a pollenizer, at least under Oregon 

 conditions. 



In 1918, Black Republicans sold for 

 4c to 5c a pound. Waterhouse sold 

 from 6%c to 8c, the same price as 

 Royal Annes. There is no reason why 

 the Waterhouse should sell for less 

 than the Royal Anne, according to one 

 prominent canneryman. Another point 

 in favor of the Waterhouse is that it 

 makes a larger tree and produces a 

 heavier crop than the Royal Anne. 



The Waterhouse is uni formally the 

 best pollenizer for the sweet cherry. 

 There is a mistaken impression among 

 some cherry growers and nurserymen 

 that black cherries should have a 

 black cherry as a pollenizer. This is 

 not so. There is no better pollenizer 

 than the Waterhouse. It is not un- 

 usual for a 9 to 11 year old Royal 

 Anne or Lambert tree growing along 

 side of a Waterhouse to produce 300 

 pounds of fruit and the Waterhouse 



