THE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY OF NEW YORK 



ought to plant sorts which please all the senses gratified by fruits, 

 to serve all the purposes served by fruits, and to be had in all the 

 seasons in which the fruit can be had. 



But how may the owners of fruit gardens know what sorts to 

 choose from the catalogues that come to them? There are two 

 ways in which the amateur fruit grower can meet the problem of 

 horticultural novelties. He can rely upon the trustworthiness 

 of the nurseryman and permit him, as the introducer, to be 

 his guide; or, he can await the results of tests made by others — 

 especially of tests made at the various experiment stations. 



Many who plant fruits in the garden, even though now and 

 then deceived, take great pleasure in growing new introductions. 

 To such experimenters, I offer the following suggestions to guide 

 them in determining what new fruits to look upon as promising and 

 what ones to distrust, it being quite out of the question for any 

 one person to try all. 



SUGGESTIONS TO BUYERS OF FRUITS 



The term "improved" added to the name of an old variety is a 

 misrepresentation, pure and simple. Out of the score or more 

 of fruits tested at the New York Agricultural Experiment Sta- 

 tion sent out as "improved," not one has differed in any way from 

 the original variety. Fruits propagated from cuttings or grafts 

 remain substantially the same indefinitely. 



The term "pedigree" is used by some nurserymen in a slightly 

 different sense than "improved" but still with the inference that 

 "pedigreed" varieties are in some way improved. Buyers of 

 "pedigreed" stock should demand proof of the supposed superior- 

 ity. Varieties of fruit are pure-bred in the most literal sense, 

 their line of descent, barring a very occasional break, being abso- 

 lutely unchangeable. 



Occasionally there are breaks or bud variations in fruits. When 

 it is proved that a variation is transmitted through budding or 

 grafting, the new strain, possibly divergent enough to be a variety, 

 may be of value. In the study of the history of several thousand 

 varieties of fruits by the speaker, it does not appear that many 

 sorts, not one out of a thousand, have- originated as bud-variations. 



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