20 The Apples of New York. 



WHAT IS A VARIETY? 



It will lead to a clearer understanding of the question as to 

 what a horticultural variety is, if we consider how such varieties 

 originate and how they are perpetuated. With respect to the 

 manner of their origination horticultural varieties fall into two 

 general classes: (a) those which arise by sexual reproduction, that 

 is to say, from seed; (b) those which arise by asexual reproduction, 

 that is to say, from some vegetative portion of the parent plant. 



The ways of perpetuating varieties likewise fall into two gen- 

 eral divisions : 



(a) Sexual Propagation, which is propagation by seed. 



(b) Asexual propagation, which is propagation by dividing the 

 plant, as by taking from it cuttings, buds, scions, etc. 



Some plants which have originated from seed are propagated 

 asexvially and vice versa some which have originated asexually 

 are propagated from seed. Some varieties may be propagated 

 either sexually or asexually as suits the convenience. 



Reproduction by Seed. 



The normal blossom of the apple species is perfect. In it both sexes 

 are represented. In the case of a seed developed from a self-fertilized 

 blossom the seed-bearing parent, which is the mother, is also at the same 

 time the male parent. But when the apple seed arises from a cross- 

 fertilized blossom the seed-bearing parent represents the female line of 

 ancestry only, while the male line is represented by that apple tree which 

 produced the pollen by which the cross-fertilization was effected. Under 

 natural conditions cross-fertilization is a common occurrence among 

 apple blossoms. Multitudes of insect visitors to the flowers carry the 

 pollen from one flower to another. Accordingly, if one should plant the 

 seeds of a particular variety, as Wagener for example, without having 

 protected the Wagener blossoms from the visits of insects, he would be 

 uncertain whether or not the seedling thus produced were a pure seed- 

 ling of Wagener. If the blossom from which it developed happened to 

 be cross-fertilized by means of pollen from another variety then the 

 seedling would be a cross between the Wagener and that variety which 

 bote the pollen. Since under natural conditions intercrossing occurs 

 abundantly among apple varieties it is not to be wondered at that our 

 cominon apples are mongrels and almost never reproduce the varieties 

 true from seed. But among a few races, or groups, of apples there is a 

 very marked tendency to reproduce the variety somewhat closely from 

 seed as in the Aport group which includes Alexander and Wolf River 

 and in the Fameuse group which includes Mcintosh, Louise and many 



