AN APPLE CHIMERA 



Two Varieties Combined in One as Result of Grafting — Fruit Does Not Seem 



to Fall Wholly in Either of General Divisions of Chimeras — An 



Explanation of the Phenomenon. 



W. E. Castle, 

 Bussey Institution, Harvard University, Forest Hills, Mass. 



ABOUT five years ago, S. A. 

 / \ Starratt casually mentioned to 

 / V me having seen in Nova Scotia 

 apples which individually con- 

 sisted of two very distinct varieties of 

 apple separated by a sharp line of 

 demarcation. The statement interested 

 me much as I recalled Darwin's descrip- 

 tion of such fruits and his uncertainty as 

 to whether they were to be regarded as 

 graft-hybrids or eversporting seedling 

 hybrids. Upon my expressing this in- 

 terest Mr. Starratt kindly volunteered 

 to secure me fuller information about 

 the peciiliar apple tree. As a result I 

 received in the spring of 1909 from W. 

 W. Clarke of Bear River, Nova Scotia, 

 a letter, from which I quote below, to- 

 gether with a package of scions cut 

 from the freak apple tree (or rather 

 trees, for Mr. Clarke's letter indicated 

 that there were several of them and of 

 two different sorts). Some of the scions 

 I was able to graft successfully upon 

 trees in my orchard, but they have not 

 yet borne fruit. In the letter already 

 mentioned, Mr Clarke says: 



"About a month ago S. A. Starratt, 

 Esq., wrote me concerning some apples 

 of a peculiar growth I showed him a 

 few years ago. The peculiarity was. 

 that of the a])ples grown upon the 

 same stem, portions, jjcrhaps, would 

 indicate different varieties. For in- 

 stance, one end of the apple would have 

 all the characteristics of the Boston 

 Stripe; the other end would be Russet; 

 and where the joining took ]>lace 

 there generally was a small ridge, 

 seemingly, Ijccause one varietx' was 

 larger than the other, and that Nature 

 was doing her best to make a good job 

 of a misfit. I did not grow the a])ples 



200 



myself, but do know different trees in 

 the orchard, say ten or a dozen, pro- 

 duced the kind of apple referred to. 

 The man who grows these apples says 

 the parent tree was grown from seed 

 and grafted with Boston Stripe, except 

 one tree which was grafted with Green- 

 ings, but grown from seed. Mr. 

 Starratt wished me to send you some 

 scions, which I have done today by one 

 of our schooners that is due to arrive 

 in Boston about the 24th to 26th inst. 

 I have instructed the Captain to express 

 direct to you immediately he arrives. 



"The scions are in one package but 

 separately tied; the ones marked Green- 

 ings are off the limb that produced the 

 hybrid apples last autumn, the Boston 

 Stripe arc off the trees that produced 

 the freak apples, but cannot say if the 

 same limbs. No one tree produces any 

 great quantity of the apples referred to, 

 perhaps two or three dozen on the 

 whole tree, the balance will be Boston 

 Stripe or Greening pure and simple. 

 I will undertake to send you some of 

 these apples this auttunn when grown." 



Apparently Mr. Clarke was unable 

 to secure any of the peculiar apples in 

 the fall of 1909, but two years later, in 

 November, 1911, I was pleased to 

 receive a ])ackagc containing half a 

 dozen of them, three of which are 

 shown in the photograph kindly made 

 for me by E. W. Nelson. With the 

 ai)])les came a letter as follows: 



I'ARENTAGE OF THE FREAKS. 



"I am mailing you lo(la\' a sam])le 

 of the Freak Ai)i)les. 1 understand the 

 parent stock was what is known as 

 Boston Stri])e into which was grafted 

 Golden Russet. You have the result. 



