402 



The Journal of Heredity 



main objects in view in this work, first 

 to obtain hardier winter apples for the 

 colder parts of Canada where apples are 

 grown commercially and, second, to 

 obtain early bearing \-arieties covering 

 the whole season, as there seems to be 

 no good reason why more apples of the 

 Northern Spy type should not be 

 obtained which will bear as early as 

 Wealthy and Wagener. 



More than 1,000 trees are now grow- 

 ing as a result of a little crossing almost 

 every year and nearly 100 of these have 

 already fruited. So far not many 

 apples have fruited which have been 

 thought worthy of propagation, but 

 there have been a few from a cross 

 between Mcintosh and Lawver where 

 the object was to obtain varieties which 

 would keep better than Mcintosh. 



In six out of ten crosses which have 

 fruited with Lawver as the mother no 

 marked resemblance to either parent is 

 recorded, and similarly in three of the 

 six with Mcintosh as the mother. Of 

 the four varieties with Lawver as the 

 mother that have marked characteris- 

 tics of the parent, two have distinct 

 Mcintosh flavor and two resemble 

 Mcintosh in color. The Lawver char- 

 acteristics are not very marked. Of the 

 six varieties with Mcintosh as the 

 mother only two show marked resem- 

 blance to either parent in the important 

 characteristics of color, flesh, and flavor, 

 although as regards season a large 

 proportion resembles both parents. The 

 Mcintosh seedlings from open pollina- 

 tion have given a larger proportion with 

 marked Mcintosh characteristics than 

 has been the case in this cross. While 

 there are none of the sixteen varieties 

 of this cross which have yet fruited 

 which are as good as Mcintosh in 

 quality, ten of the sixteen are better than 

 Lawver in quality and thirteen of the 

 sixteen are later in season than Mcin- 

 tosh, and most of the varieties are of 

 high colour and attractive in aiJjx>ar- 

 ance. F(jllowing are those which have 

 been named: Lawver In' Mclntosh- 

 Holz, Vermae. Mcintosh l)y Lawver- 

 Mavis, Rustler. 



The new varieties of ajjples which 

 have been referred to are being tested 

 in (lifTerent parts of Canada and no 



doubt some of them some day will take 

 their place among the list of best 

 varieties offered for sale, but their 

 introduction is not being pushed as 

 there are too many already. 



WORK WITH OTHER FRUITS 



Pears. — Some work has been done in 

 recent years with pears. It has been 

 found that certain Russian varieties 

 such as Bcsscmianka and Gliva Kurs- 

 kaya are comparatively immune from 

 fire blight and these have been crossed 

 with other and better varieties. 



Plums. — Little cross-breeding has 

 been done but many seedlings have been 

 grown of Prunus americana and P. nigra, 

 some of which have been named. It is 

 believed that P. nigra offers the better 

 field of work as it has more good char- 

 acteristics for Canadian conditions than 

 P. americana. 



Cherries. — Seedlings are being grown 

 of a wild cherry from North-Eastern 

 Asia called Primus tomentosa, the fruit 

 of which varies considerably. This is a 

 bush cherry which is hardy where the 

 tree cherries do not succeed. Varieties 

 with better fruit are sought. 



Grapes. — Little progress has been 

 made in breeding grajx's though many 

 seedlings of Rogers Hybrid grapes are 

 now being grown and it is expected that 

 some good sorts will be obtained. 



Gooseberries. — Seedlings are being 

 grown of crosses between Ribes oxya- 

 canthoides, R. cynosbati, and R. grossu- 

 laria varieties looking to obtaining 

 larger fruited sorts not subject to 

 mildew. 



Currants. — A number of seedlings and 

 cross-bred varieties, the best saved 

 from a large nimiber, are being tested 

 out. 



Strawberries. — A large number of 

 seedlings have been grown but few good 

 varieties have been obtained. Some 

 of the most ]3romising are Cassandra, 

 Cordelia. Desdemona, Ophelia and 

 Portia. In recent years crosses have 

 been made between wild strawberries 

 obtained from dilTerent parts of Canada 

 and cultivated varieties with the object 

 of obtaining hardier sorts. 



Early varieties of vegetables are of 

 great im])()rtance everywhere, luit are 



