he (anadian t{ortic(jItCrist 



MARCH, ;905 



Volume XXVIII 



mm 

 mm 



THE CORELESS APPLE* 



SAMPSON MORGAN, BROADSTAIRS, ENGLAND. 



Number 3 



1HAD the honor of introducing the first 

 coreless and seedless apple to Great 

 Britain. Its arrival evoked great interest 

 among all classes. I have been asked to 

 put on record an account of this wonderful 

 novelty, and for Canada have selected The 

 Canadian Horticulturist for the purpose. 

 The apple was sent to me by the secretary 

 of the Spencer Seedless Apple Co., of Colo- 

 rado, at the wish of Mr. Spencer, the intro- 

 ducer, with instructions to bring it before 

 the notice of the British public. 



A box containing the first coreless apples 

 ever received in England was delivered to 

 me at Broadstairs, January 22. The first 

 specimen taken from the box I put aside for 

 the King. In the near future seedless and 

 coreless apples will be on sale in the fruit 

 shops of every city in the United Kingdom. 



The tree produces a cluster of small green 

 leaves, like a disorganized bud. It is here 

 that in due course the fruit forms. There 

 being no petals or fragrance the codling 

 moth, which has wrought great devastation 

 in our orchards, passes it by, and thus few, 

 if any, of the coreless apples are marred or 

 injured by the grub of that pest. The trees 

 are being propagated from buds, no seeds 

 being available. 



The permanency of the seedlessness of 

 the Spencer apple is beyond dispute. Over 



2,500 trees are already in hand, and the 

 stock is being extended. Arrangements 

 are in progress to ensure ample supplies of 

 these wonderful novelties in England. 



The Spencer seedless apple is not the first 

 seedless apple which has been grown. Pro- 

 bably half a dozen trees have appeared at 

 difi^erent places bearing apples without 

 seeds. Besides, the apples which grew on 

 the original trees had little juice, and being 

 small, were of no commercial value. The, 

 originator of the Spencer seedless apple first 

 succeeded in getting five trees which yielded 

 fruits practically without seeds. From these 

 five trees he budded and grafted to see if 

 they would reproduce themselves. He has 

 now in his orchard trees four, six and eight 

 years old bearing seedless apples. 



As these trees stand in close proximity 

 to ordinary apple trees, a small percentage 

 of the apples on the seedless trees have one 

 and sometimes two or three seeds, but they 

 are just as apt to appear in one part of the 

 apple as another. Mr. Spencer has found 

 a seed within one-eighth of an inch of the 

 outer peeling of the apple, far removed 

 from its core. It is impossible for the 

 Spencer seedless apple to bear seeds of their 

 own accord. The seed, which is occasion- 

 ally found, is produced by the pollen from 

 the common apple trees being carried to the 



* In the April i?sue of The Horticulturist will appear an article by Mr. W. T. Macoun, Horiiculturist of the Cential Experimental 

 Farm, Ottawa, in i elation to seedless apples that have been grown in Canada. 



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