154 



in 1910, "the only hope of salvation for 

 forestry is in growing timber rapid- 

 ly. ... We are ourselves making 

 some experiments in cross-fertilization 

 this year; but more workers are re- 

 quired in this field. Hitherto, nothing 

 whatever has been done to improve 

 the breeds of forest trees; and foresters 

 have never even thought of the possi- 

 bilities in this direction, though gar- 

 deners and farmers have shown the 

 way for centuries." 



Four years later he described several 

 hybrids he had made, including a vig- 

 orous poplar hybrid ( X Populus gene- 

 rosa), and again directed attention to 

 certain first-generation hybrid trees 

 that, as in other plants, "are remark- 

 able for their size, rapid growth, early 

 and free flowering, longer period of 

 life, the ease with which they can be 

 multiplied, and in all probability their 

 comparative immunity from disease." 



IN THE UNITED STATES, suggestions 

 on breeding forest trees began to ap- 

 pear in the reports of the Ameri- 

 can Breeders Association in the early 

 1900's. But hybridizing poplars so as to 

 produce fast-growing trees for reforest- 

 ing cut-over pulpwood lands was first 

 advocated in 1916 by Ralph H. Mc- 

 Kee, then head of the Paper and Pulp 

 School in the University of Maine. 



Dr. McKee, convinced of the prac- 

 tical possibilities by Augustine Henry's 

 hybridization results, turned for help 

 and advice on a breeding program to 

 A. B. Stout, plant breeder and director 

 of laboratories at the New York Botan- 

 ical Garden. The Oxford Paper Co., 

 in Maine, agreed to finance the pro- 

 gram, and in April 1924 the work was 

 started in cooperation with the New 

 York Botanical Garden. Botanists and 

 foresters had laid the ground work; 

 the persistence of Dr. McKee, a re- 

 search chemist, brought the financial 

 support for large-scale hybridization. 



The project had headquarters at 

 the New York Botanical Garden under 

 the supervision of Dr. Stout, who was 

 directly and solely responsible for the 

 planning and direction of the poplar 



Yearbook of Agriculture 1949 



breeding. The most complete collection 

 in the country of poplar species and 

 varieties of blooming age was in High- 

 land Park, Rochester, N. Y. Within 2 

 years the breeding work at the New 

 York Botanical Garden and Highland 

 Park had produced thousands of new 

 hybrids; the hybrid seedlings in pots 

 filled two entire greenhouses. Late in 

 1926 the Oxford Paper Co. established 

 near Rumford Falls, Maine, a nursery 

 devoted entirely to the propagation of 

 the best of those hybrids. There, more 

 than 13,000 seedlings, which represent 

 99 cross-combinations among 34 types 

 of poplars, were set out in forest planta- 

 tions in 1927 and 1928. Those seedlings 

 represent thousands of new combina- 

 tions of germ plasm. 



Sixty-nine of the most promising hy- 

 brids were being propagated for large- 

 scale reforestation planting in 1932, 

 when a change in pulpwood utiliza- 

 tion practically eliminated the Oxford 

 Paper Go.'s need for poplar pulpwood ; 

 research chemists had adapted the 

 soda process to the utilization of birch, 

 beech, and maple. Previously, only 

 aspen wood, the native poplar, was 

 used for soda pulp to provide the short- 

 fibered stock necessary for the manu- 

 facture of most high-grade papers. 

 Birch, beech, and maple grow abun- 

 dantly near Rumford, and good busi- 

 ness dictated their use. Nevertheless, 

 the company continued to maintain 

 the hybrids because of their potential 

 value for reforestation. During the de- 

 pression years the project was on a bare 

 maintenance basis and it was not pos- 

 sible to establish test plantations of the 

 best hybrids. 



Congress appropriated funds for 

 research in tree breeding in the North- 

 east in 1936, and the Oxford Paper 

 Co. transferred the new hybrids and 

 its breeding records to the Northeast- 

 ern Forest Experiment Station. It took 

 several years to propagate stocks of the 

 selected hybrids, and then, just when 

 planting stock in sufficient quantity for 

 large-scale field tests was available, the 

 war stopped the work, and it went back 

 again to a maintenance basis. 



