DESIRABLE CHARACTERS IN A VARIETY 159 



A few varieties suffered little injury; among these were 

 Beder Wood, Dunlap, Crescent and Pokomoke. In 1896 

 the South Dakota Experiment Station reported the 

 Princess, Warfield, Clyde and Beder Wood as the hardi- 

 est sorts. The soil and method of training have much in- 

 fluence upon the hardiness of plants. 



The vigor and productiveness of a variety vary greatly 

 under different conditions of soil, climate and culture. 

 No variety or seedling should be condemned from a single 

 trial. Usually a variety is most at home in the region or 

 locality where it originated and is less successful elsewhere 

 in proportion to the extent of the variance from these con- 

 ditions. Occasionally a variety is more successful else- 

 where than where it originated. The Clark is soft and 

 unprofitable in the Willamette Valley, Oregon, where it 

 originated, but is exceptionally firm and profitable in the 

 Hood River Valley of the same state. The Dollar, which 

 originated in New Jersey, was soon discarded there but 

 still finds a sphere of usefulness on the opposite side of 

 the continent, near Sacramento, California. As a rule, 

 the seedling or variety most worthy of propagation is one 

 that is cosmopolitan or able to adapt itself to a wide range 

 of conditions of soil and climate. 



Foliage. — The leaves should be abundant, large, tough, 

 not easily torn by winds or scorched by the sun. One 

 reason why most English varieties fail here is because their 

 foliage is sparse, tender, and easily sun-burned. In 

 different varieties the leaflets vary from thin and narrow 

 to thick and rounded; and their color from very dark 

 green, almost black, to nearly yellow. None of these char- 

 acters denotes superiority, but size and toughness of 

 foliage are essential. Some varieties hug the ground, 

 with comparatively few and straggling leaf stalks ; others 



