Macoun : Plant Breedino: in Canada 



399 



very favorably in quality with the named 

 cralD apples on the market. Nearly all 

 of them retained the marked crab 

 characteristics of long, slender stem; 

 thin, tender skin, and crisp, breaking 

 flesh. 



SOME HARDY VARIETIES 



After being propagated and thor- 

 oughly tested on the prairies some of 

 these have proved hardier than any 

 other varieties of apples or crab apples 

 tested, thus marking a stage of develop- 

 ment in hardy apples for the prairie 

 provinces. Some of the hardiest varie- 

 ties have proved to be Jewel {P. baccata 

 by Yellow Transparent, size 1.4 by 

 1.3 inches), Columbia {P. baccata by 

 Broad Green, size 1.8 by 1.6 inches), 

 Charles (P. baccata by Tetofsky, size 

 1.6 by 1.5 inches), Silvia (P. baccata by 

 Yellow Transparent, size 1.4 by 1.5 

 inches), Tony (P. baccata by McMahan, 

 size 1.6 by 1.4 inches), Elsa (P. baccata 

 by Yellow Transparent, size 1.4 by 1.3 

 inches). Eve (P. baccata by Simbirsk 

 No. 9, size 1.6 by 1.2 inches). Seedlings 

 grown from these gave in nearly every 

 case fruit smaller than the parent. As 

 none of the fruits resulting from this 

 cross was large enough to compare 

 favorably with less hardy varieties of 

 apples and crab apples, the best of 

 these first crosses were, in 1904, re- 

 crossed with named varieties of apples 

 with the object of obtaining varieties 

 bearing larger fruits but which would 

 retain sufficient hardiness to be grown 

 in the open on the prairies. 



In this work Dr. Saunders used the 

 crosses as the mother parents in all 

 cases. The varieties of apples used as 

 male parents are Mcintosh, Baldwin, 

 Cranberry, Duchess, Northern Spy, 

 October, Scott Winter, Simbirsk No. 9, 

 Tetofsky, Yellow Transparent, Ontario, 

 Gideon, Rideau, Haas, August, Walter, 

 Wealthy, McMahan. From seeds ob- 

 tained through this work 407 trees were 

 grown at Ottawa which began to fruit 

 in 1910 and of which a large proportion 

 have borne. While many of these have 

 borne fruit no larger than the mother 

 parent, 24 have produced apples two 

 inches and more in diameter. Some of 

 the largest varieties which have fruited 



are Wapella (Dean by Ontario) size 

 2.25 by 2.25 inches; Angus (Dean by 

 Ontario) size 2 by 2.5 inches. The 

 parentage of Dean is P. baccata by 

 Wealthy. Martin (Pioneer by Ontario) 

 size 2.25 by 2.37 inches; Gretna (Pioneer 

 by Northern Spy) 2 by 2.25 inches. The 

 parentage of Pioneer is P. baccata by 

 Tetofsky. Most of these second crosses 

 retain the long, slender stem, the thin, 

 tender skin, and the crisp, breaking flesh 

 which are characteristic of Pyrus baccata, 

 but a few are quite apple like. 



It is not known yet whether these 

 will be sufficiently hardy or not, but 

 this will soon be determined. 



It is to be regretted that the apple 

 {Pyrus malus) was not used as the 

 mother in these crosses, as it is believed 

 by the writer that larger apples would 

 have been obtained more quickly, but 

 size might have been obtained at the 

 expense of hardiness which is the first 

 consideration on the prairies. If these 

 second crosses prove hardier than any 

 other apples or crab apples which have 

 been tested they will mark another 

 step in advance. 



NEWER WORK WITH APPLES 



As some of the Russian varieties of 

 apples had proved hardy in certain 

 places in the prairie provinces and had 

 produced considerable quantities of 

 fruit, a new line of breeding hardy apples 

 for the prairies was begun by the writer 

 in 1912. Seed was sown of such hardy 

 varieties as Anis, Anisette, Antonovka, 

 Beautiful Arcad, Blushed Calville, Char- 

 lamoff. Hibernal, Tetofsky and Yellow 

 Transparent. After the trees had made 

 one season's growth in the seed bed 

 they were transplanted one foot apart 

 into nursery rows 3 feet apart on the 

 six Experimental Farms at Brandon, 

 Man., Indian Head, Sask., Rosthern, 

 vSask., Scott, Sask., Lacombe, Alta., and 

 Lethbridge, Alta., and a few were sent 

 to a sub-station at Fort Vermilion in the 

 Peace River District. Some 50,000 

 trees were planted out in this way and 

 it is planned to plant many more. 

 Many of these trees have now passed 

 through three winters and some of 

 them have proved quite hardy, though 

 a marked difference in this respect has 



