A RR Sh ae Ne Ps nat ee eh ee Bey Ver ae tached a WA EAE, ofS ee Re <a 
106 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
APPLE TREE SEEDLINGS. 
CHAS. F. GARDNER, OSAGE, IOWA. 
To a large class of readers what I shall say on this subject will be 
of little interest, as the facts which I present have been well known 
for a thousand years. Then, you ask, “Why present these facts 
which are so well known?” The reason why is this: Because a 
gang of men can go out through the country and represent that 
they have an apple tree that in flavor surpasses the Wealthy and as 
a keeper will last from six to eight weeks longer, a perfectly hardy 
tree,as hardy as the bur oak, for the reason that this wonderful 
tree has never been grafted or budded. They represent that all 
methods of budding or grafting to propagate apple trees is a com- 
plete failure, as it is certain to cause premature decay and death. 
The acme of perfect success, however, has been found in a first-class 
apple that needs no grafting nor budding; it reproduces itself from 
seed with invariable and absolute certainty. 
This tale, well told, was listened to and accepted by thousands. 
Not only farmers, but editors, medical men and lawyers, who list- 
ened with gaping mouth and readily gave their orders for this won- 
derful tree at the rate of one dollar or more each. When this can be 
done and thousands of dollars worth of orders taken, is it not time 
to take this matter up and make a statement of facts for the benefit 
of those who are not posted on the subject? Itis a matter of sur- 
prise to me to find so many persons who know little or nothing con- 
cerning this subject. What are the facts? 
If there is anything well known, any fact undisputed among 
horticulturists, itis that, as a rule,no tree fruit will exactly reproduce 
itself from the seed. While this is true of all tree fruits, the apple 
tree is remarkable in that valuable varieties never reproduce them. 
selves. The only cases known in pomology where an apple tree is 
produced the second time from the seed is in cases where they re- 
vert back or nearly so to the wild stock from which they originated. 
Pyrus malus, and all such trees are absolutely without any value 
whatever except to be used as stocks or for wood. There never has 
been but one Rhode Island Greening grown from the seed. Other 
Greenings have been developed, but never one like the original. 
This is true of all other named varieties of the apple. 
Plant a bushel of apple seed, all taken from the Wealthy, while it 
would be possible,stillit would be highly improbable,that out of the 
whole lot of seedlings you would get a single Wealthy apple tree. 
This is true of any given named variety. The real, absolute facts 
are, technically speaking, that in planting the bushel of apple seed 
mentioned, when the seedlings are grown there will be no two trees 
that are exactly alike in every respect, and, what is more, there will 
be no tree that is exactly like any known tree heretofore grown, with 
the exception of those which revert back to the original stock as be- 
fore stated. Many valuable varieties will be found among them, but 
all differing in some way from kinds now known and classified. 
Consequently, to perpetuate a given variety, grafting or budding in 
some form must be resorted to. 
