TOP-WORKING VS. SEEDLINGS. 155 



ag-ainst obtaining any variet}' of great excellence." Van Moons 

 says, " The tendencj^ of all our fruit seeds is to return to a wild state, 

 more so in seed gathered from old trees. The older the tree, the 

 more sure will be the tendenc}'^ to return to a wild state. The 

 chances are much better if the seeds are taken from a young, thrifty 

 seedling. Seed from old seedlings or from grafted fruit should be 

 rejected." If Downing saw the necessity of urging such caution to 

 those not thoroughly versed as to the uncertainty of securing any- 

 thing valuable from planting seed in one of the most favored locali- 

 ties, how much more should we urge caution as to our chances of 

 success here in this much more uncongenial climate? This warn- 

 ing was given long before he could have had anj'^ real knowledge 

 from anj' experience here in the northwest, even before an apple 

 tree had been set, to say nothing of their being tested here where 

 hardiness forms the chief requisite to success. There, no efforts 

 were found necessary to secure hardiness; here, the efforts in this 

 line tower high above all else, making the chances for success ten 

 to one against those on the banks of the Hudson, where the chief 

 purpose was to secure qualitJ^ Here, we must secure hardiness, or 

 all our efforts are failures. We have hoped and still continue to, 

 that a surer plan may be brought out by our wise pomologists, viz., 

 b3' properly crossing choice varieties with their pollen when in 

 blossom. But the lack of pedigreed pollen on either side bids fair 

 to make this plan of work much more difficult and uncertain than 

 it was first thought. Theories often give us fine pictures in the 

 near future that practice fails to demonstrate. Judging the future 

 by the past, what have we to encourage us b}' growing seedlings? 

 Let VIS brietl}^ inv^estigate b}' running over the history of our new 

 seedlings. 



Every new seedling from Springer's down has been grown under 

 unusually favorable conditions and surroundings, except the 

 Wealth}'^. This has come up through adverse conditions and has 

 been contending for an existence in our uncongenial climate over 

 one-fourth of a century. Suffice to say this has its serious faults. 

 We are told b}' the friends of these varieties that they have stood 

 the most sev^ere tests without serious injury. I would not attempt 

 to deny that some of these seedlings can show at least one single 

 specimen that has passed the winter of 1885 without serious injury. 

 But on the other hand I hold myself ready to show single speci- 

 mens of nearl3^ all our old and half hardy kinds, that are as old, as 

 large and as sound as anj- of the seedlings. You may ask why 

 these few trees have survived and outlived so many of their kin. I 

 answer simply from the facts, that these individual seedlings that 

 have outlived their kin have had more favorable conditions and 

 surroundings. In this we see the key that unlocks much of the 

 mystery that has so long befogged the real condition of our seed- 

 lings. It has alwa3'-s been a wonder to all horticulturists in the 

 northwest why so many seedlings here endured our severe changes, 

 while those root-grafted from the same stock and removed to other 

 grounds so often fail. I attribute this to the simple fact that these 

 original trees have been grown under much more favorable condi- 



