CROSS-POLLINATION. 249 



"This Statement is made, based upon a lifetime of observation and 

 experience. My father was a fruit grower and in 1860-1863 set out 

 orchards on his farm in Champaign County, Illinois, of over 100 acres in 

 extent. These orchards consisted of many varieties, hardly any two 

 adjoining rows being of the same variety, thus the matter of cross-pol- 

 lination was given full sway. The orchard was set in this manner to 

 test out the many varieties then before the grower, to determine value 

 and adaptability to the then new prairies of Illinois. I do not remember 

 a single failure in this orchard until the year 1893, which was due to a 

 severe freeze. 



"MY CONCLUSIONS ARE 



That with apple buds self-pollinated they are not so strong, and they do 

 not possess the vitality possessed by buds that are fertilized by the pollen 

 from some other variety. All of the trees of any certain variety are the 

 same as one tree. Separate trees of Ben Davis for example, although in- 

 dividual trees, are from the same original bud and constitute but one 

 tree, or individual. They are the product of grafting or budding, and are 

 essentially a part of and identically the same as the tree from which 

 they sprang. 



"Varieties originate from the seed and each tree so originated is of a 

 different kind no two being alike, in either tree or fruit. It is a well 

 known fact that seeds from the same apple produce entirely different 

 progeny, some may produce sweet fruit and others sour fruit. 



"Darwin demonstrated that animals too closely related produce 

 weaker offspring than those not related. Nature is so constituted that 

 the same laws prevail in the vegetable as in the animal kingdom, with 

 modification of course, so that the 'cross-pollination of one variety by a 

 different variety is a demand and law of nature that we should heed, 



"ALTERNATE FOUR-ROW BLOCKS. 



"To secure the best results, plant your apple orchard so that not more 

 than four rows of the same variety are together. It is now my prac- 

 tice and has been for several years to plant four rows of one variety 

 alternating with four rows of another variety. For example in setting 

 fifty acres of Jonathan and fifty acres of Grimes in 1907 I alternated four 

 rows of Grimes with four rows of Jonathan throughout the one hundred 

 acres. By so doing I also had in mind the harvesting of the fruit in the 

 most economical manner. It sometimes happens that the windfalls are 

 of value if harvested separately and this is best secured by the four row 

 system. The picking of the fruit at harvest time is also best conserved 

 if this method of planting is followed. I would not alternate in the same 

 row unless it were intended to remove the fillers, on account of the an- 

 noyance of keeping the varieties separate. 



"TO SECURE CROSS-POLLINATION 



In an orchard already planted to the block system there are two methods 

 or a combination of the two dependent upon conditions. 



