Results F'rom Work in Breeding Hardy Fruits. 269 



RESULTS FROM WORK IN BREEDING HARDY KRUITS. 



By C. G. Patten, Charles City, Iowa. 



The results as presented in this paper will be the better under- 

 stood if a brief outline be given of the conditions that surrounded 

 the work at the beginning. 



Thirty-seven years ago the writer began planting the seeds of the 

 apple on the wind swept prairies of the 43d parallel in northern Iowa; 

 v/here the mercury fell in its extremes from thirty to forty below zero. 



No one whose experience has been confined to the East or South, 

 or to the humid atmosphere of the Lake Regions, or to the balmy 

 atmosphere of the Pacific Slope can comprehend the powers of "a 

 Northwest blizzard to suck the moisture from trees and plants, killing 

 t»y complete exhaustion of moisture and bursting tissues those trees 

 and plants that had their origin in more equable winter climates. 



In the far away sixties in this northern latitude one would hardly 

 dare question the prevalent opinion that it was useless to plant any- 

 thing but a Siberian crab and a few Duchess trees that were just being 

 Introduced. 



The most courageous planters adhered closely to the recom- 

 mended list of eastern Wisconsin — Fameuse, Tolman Sweet, Golden 

 and Perry Russets, Oldenberg and Tetofsky. And even now these 

 sorts with the exception of the last two, are planted with extreme 

 caution. 



The winters of 1863 and 1864 had been very destructive; and 

 those of 1872 and 1873 even more so; while the winters of 1883, 1884, 

 and 188 5 were of such extreme severity that they left the orchards 

 of the Nortwest in ruin. 



In the meantime a deluge of Russian apples, plums, pears, and 

 •cherries, had come upon -the scene; these were to give to the "cold 

 North" fruitful and enduring orchards. 



Time has passed, and nearly all of these fruits have passed with 

 it. And so also the most of the seedling apples of northeastern Wis- 

 •consin, which were sent out about that time. 



During all this period some of the leading pomologists of the West 

 believed that the hopes of the country lay in the breeding to fruits 

 which would be adapted to the distinctive climate of the prairie 

 regions. 



