11(1 SYSTEMATIC POMOLOGY 



Var. innnila, llfiirv. To this Itotanical variety, described as a species 

 by some authors, most of tlie cultivated a|)i)]es are now referred by the 

 leadinj; autliorities on Pyrus, The trees are lar^e or small, sometimes 

 busli-like. witli the youn^' branches, pedicels, calyx-tul)e, both surfaces of 

 the calyx lobes and the under surface of the leaves j)rominently tomentose. 

 The Paradise and Doucin apples, used as dwarfing stocks, are probably 

 dwarf forms of Var. pumila. This botanical variety is native to south- 

 eastern P^urope and western Asia, although found wild as an escape wherever 

 the apple is cultivated. 



Var. astracanica. Loud. It is probable that several pomological varieties 

 belong to this botanical variety, which is cliaracterized by large coarsely 

 serrate or double serrate leaves, tomentose beneath, and by the long pedicels; 

 it is a native of Asia, and it is probable that the Russian sorts of apples 

 belong here or are hybrids between it and one of the other two botanical 

 varieties. 



161. Strains of varieties. — A ^-oup of plants within a variety 

 whie-h differs from the type in one or at most by but a few 

 characters, is a strain. Usually a strain retains the varietal 

 name with a modifying word; as, Red Spy, CoUamer Twenty 

 Ounce, and Bank Gravenstein, all red-fruited strains of three 

 well-known apples. These strains are all improvements on the 

 parents, for while they answer the same purposes and are 

 adapted to the same fruit regions, they sell better in the markets 

 because of their brighter color. Many real strains have no 

 greater, if as great, value as the parent variety; as, Russet 

 Baldwin and Russet Bartlett. 



The strains now recognized in American apple orchards are 

 bud-mutations — that is, they originated from a bud of the parent 

 variety. No strains are on record as having been i:)roduced by 

 continuous bud selection. Color of fruit seems to be the only 

 character mutating from which strains have been selected. Out 

 of about 1200 varieties grown by the New York Agricultural 

 Experiment Station in the last thirty years, eight are strains 

 which have originated as bud-mutations. 



i\Iany strains are not real but fanciful and were introduced 

 without the originator having taken the trouble to prove whether 

 the supposed mutation would come true. His fancied strain 

 was a variation which appeared and disappeared in an indi- 

 vidual tree. Such strains are usually sent out with the word 

 "Improved" before the varietal name; Improved Wagener, 

 Improved Rome, Improved Vandevere and so on. Twenty 



