President James Wood took the chair. 



The following paper was read by N. E. Hansen. 



THE BREEDING OF NATIVE NORTHWESTERN FRUITS 



By N. E. Hansen, Horticulturist, Brookings, S. D. 



All who are familiar with the climate and soil of the prairie North- 

 west, and with the history of the fruit culture of this vast region, know the 

 practical importance of this line of work. We must create a new pomology. 

 Almost all the varieties familiar to Eastern fruit growers are tender and 

 worthless on the open prairies of a large part of the Dakotas, Minnesota, 

 Northern Iowa and the Canadian Northwest. With a view to meet this de- 

 mand for hardier fruits the writer has engaged extensively in the work of 

 originating news sorts better adapted to the conditions. At present consid- 

 erably over one hundred thousand fruit seedlings are on the grounds of the 

 South Dakota Experiment Station as the result of this determination. The 

 wild fruits of the prairie Northwest form the main material, although some 

 work is being done with the apple. The methods pursued are simple, being 

 mainly the carrying out of the principle laid down by Darwin, "Excess of food 

 causes variation." This is the star to which the wagon is hitched. Crossing 

 and hybridizing are used as means of hastening the process of evolution by 

 introducing new elements of variation. The chief reliance is placed on selec- 

 tion from large numbers. Some of the crossing is done under glass to guard 

 against undue loss from unfavorable weather conditions at the time of blos- 

 soming. One of the main lines of work is the improvement of the native 

 sand cherry (Prunus Besseyi). Over five thousand seedlings formed the ma- 

 terial for selection in the first generation, and over fifteen thousand in the 

 second generation, most of . which bore the past season. Some of the seedlings 

 bore fruit measuring fully three-fourths of an inch in diameter and of good 

 quality, and this the third season from seed. My fall inventory will not be 

 complete until digging time, but several thousand seedlings of the third gen- 

 eration have been raised this year. Over seventy-five varieties have been 

 selected as being worthy of propagation. These are being budded on native 

 plum roots, and an effort will be made to breed them true to seed. Some 

 extra large native seedling plums bore heavily this year. Also a few rasp- 

 berry seedlings of half wild and half tame ancestry were selected. Some 

 two hundred strawberries, also crosses between wild and tame, were selected 

 from some eight thousand plants. The strawberries as brought from the 

 Eastern States are not fully hardy in the northern part of South Dakota, and 

 a hardier strawberry is much needed, Some interesting results appear; for 



