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PROMISING NEW FRUITS. 



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By WILLIAM A. TAYLOR, 

 Pomologist in Charge of Field Investigations, Bureau of Plant Industry. 



Interest in new fruits varies greatly in different sections and at 

 different times in the same section. Where the commercial produc- 

 tion of certain types has become firmly established such interest 

 usually lags so long as the established types continue to do well and 

 to meet with good demand in the markets. When such sorts suffer 

 from unusual or untimely climatic conditions or prove susceptible 

 to injury by diseases or insects not previously encountered, however, 

 interest is at once aroused and the need for varieties superior in one 

 or another important characteristic is at once realized. In such case 

 the community which has within its borders a fruiting collection con- 

 taining the newer sorts is fortunate through its ability to gain quickly 

 the desired information regarding the adaptability of such sorts. 



Every large commercial orchard enterprise should in fact maintain 

 a carefully selected varietal collection merely for the information to 

 be derived regarding the behavior of varieties, against the possibility 

 of needing to top-work blocks of some of the older sorts. For not- 

 withstanding the importance of cultural methods, including spraying, 

 and of skill in handling and marketing the product, the fact remains 

 conspicuously evident that the inherent characteristics of varieties 

 and their proper adjustment to environment are factors of funda- 

 mental importance in successful orcharding. 



The " newness" of varieties is, in a country like the United States, 

 at best but a relative term. Sorts thoroughly tested and proved 

 either successes or failures in one section are still unknown in other 

 parts. Hardly a season passes without bringing to light some old 

 eastern variety that has found a congenial home farther west or south 

 than its previously proved region of adaptability. Some such sorts 

 have accordingly been included in the series of articles on this subject 

 which began in the Yearbook for 1901, in order that the attention of 

 fruit growers may be called to such of them as are worthy of testing 

 in an experimental way. The commercial fruit grower should of 

 course bear in mind that these are not recommended for extensive 

 planting outside of the localities where they have already proved 

 their adaptability, but that they are suggested as promising for trial. 

 With most of the tree fruits several fruiting seasons are required to 

 determine whether a new sort is worthy of commercial planting in a 

 locality. 



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