Dorsey: The Duchess Apple Improved 



567 



bundle of that variety. All branches^ 

 bear the highly colored fruit which 

 makes it impossible to determine with 

 certainty whether it is a sport. It was 

 bought for a grafted tree but since there 

 is no evidence of a graft union at the 

 base as far as can be detennined by 

 external appearance when the dirt is 

 thrown back as far down as the roots, 

 this point cannot be definitely settled. 

 The seed of Duchess is used, when 

 available, by nurserymen, to obtain 

 seedlings, so that it is possible that 

 seedlings of Duchess, open or cross 

 pollinated, were used for stock on this 

 particular occasion. Its origin as a 

 seedling, however, presupposes that if 

 a graft was placed on this particular 

 stock it did not grow. The lack of 

 vigor characteristic of most self-ferti- 

 lized seedlings is not apparent in this 

 case. So it appears that if this new 

 type is a seedling it is so remarkably 

 near Duchess in so many characters 

 that it may be regarded as a combina- 

 tion of rare occurrence. 



RETAINS CHARACTER WHEN GRAFTED 



If this new form is not a seedling, 

 the other possible method of origin is 

 as a bud variation. If this new form 

 originated as a bud variation it may be 

 that this is the only tree of its kind, or 

 others may have been grafted from the 

 same source, providing there was suf- 

 ficient growth from the original bud 

 which varied. When topworked the 

 sport retams its original characteris- 

 tics. 



If this is a bud sport from Duchess it 

 is a good illustration of a variety being 



improved by this means. If it i? a 

 seedling this does not detract from its 

 value. By carefully watching all vari- 

 eties for such variations it may be 

 possible to have different types within 

 the variety which may vary in im- 

 portant features. The higher color of 

 this sport over Duchess — certainly its 

 nearest relative it not its parent — will 

 make it a favorite in that class of trade 

 where higher color is desired. 



Sports similar to this have been of 

 relatively frequent occurrence in the 

 apple. A single limb, but not so highly 

 colored as the Bardwell sport, was found 

 on a Duchess tree in the University of 

 Minnesota Experiment Station. CoUa- 

 mer arose as a sport from the Twenty 

 Ounce, and differs from the parent 

 variety chiefly in the higher color. 

 Hitchings arose in the same Vv^ay from 

 Twenty Ounce, and is more highly 

 colored than Collamer. Banks is an- 

 other sport of a similar nature which 

 arose from Gravenstein and differs from 

 it primarily in color, being sometimes 

 called the Red Gravenstein. Follow- 

 ing this precedent. Red Duchess would 

 be an appropriate name for the Bard- 

 well sport. 



While the origin of the new type 

 herein described cannot be ascribed 

 with certaintv to a bud sport, on a 

 priori grounds the evidence points that 

 way. Since it has been equal to Duchess 

 in productiveness and has shown the 

 characteristic hardiness and vigor of 

 this variety, it will be evident that there 

 is a place for this Red Duchess where 

 greater color is desired in an apple of 

 this typ3. 



Low Fecundity of Intellectual Negroes 



Eugenics finds the same problem 

 in the Negro race in America as in the 

 white race, says Dean Kelly Miller of 

 Howard University in the July issue of 

 The Scientific Monthly. He finds that 

 fifty-five members of the academic 

 faculty at Howard have an average of 

 0.7 of a child each. While these families 

 are not completed he is persuaded that 

 the ultimate figure cannot be higher 

 than two children per family — a number 

 not sufficient to replace the parents. 

 The families from which these fifty-five 



faculty members came average 6.5 

 children each. This low fecundity of 

 intellectual Negroes is general, Dean 

 Miller says. It is partly due to the long 

 period of education which a Negro 

 must have if he is to rise, partly to the 

 high standard of living which he feels it 

 necessary to maintain, and partly to 

 the fact that some sensitive Negroes, 

 feeling that their race is stigmatized as 

 inferior, prefer not to have any children 

 who must bear the burden of race 

 prejudice. 



