germinating peach seed in the spring 

 of 1949 has shown that one need not 

 wait until leaf maturity to determine 

 the flesh color of the fruit a tree will 

 bear. Before seedlings emerge from 



Peach seedlings at this age have a yellow 



color if they will grow into a tree bearing 



yellow fruits. 



the soil they will be white or yellow, 

 corresponding to the flesh color of 

 the fruit which they will some day 

 produce. Seeds from pure white 

 peach trees give only white seedlings, 

 from pure yellow only yellow, and in 

 F^ populations when three white to 

 one yellow are expected, such a ratio 

 was found in the seedlings. The use 

 of this information will permit the 

 car.y discarding of undesirable white 

 peaches and will greatly reduce the 

 cost of doing peach-breeding work. 

 Of course, there are some which are 

 difficult to classify; hence, 100 per 

 cent accuracy cannot be expected. 



Genetic stocks of possible unusual 

 hardiness now being grown include 

 seedlings from the University of 

 Minnesota, the South Hero peach 



from the Lake Champlain region, 

 and also a few plants from several 

 individuals who believe they have 

 unusually hardy material. Under 

 normal conditions, nature should 

 help test them quickly. 



PEARS 



Little pear-breeding has been done 

 in the New Hampshire Agricultural 

 Experiment Station program. It has 

 involved crosses between Clapp's 

 Favorite, which is by far our most 

 vigorous and productive variety, and 

 Conference, a very good, high-quali- 

 ty winter pear. The objective is not 

 only to produce a variety as pro- 

 ductive, vigorous, and of as good 

 quality as Clapp's Favorite, but also 

 one which will ripen during the win- 

 ter instead of in August, as does 

 Clapp's. Some of these seedlings are 

 Hearing the bearing age. Blight is 

 not a factor at Durham. 



GRAPES 



Earliness is a prime requisite in 

 grapes. While Concord is reason- 

 ably hardy, it rarely develops good 

 quality because the growing season 

 is too short and cool. The best 

 varieties in order of ripening are 

 Erie, Van Buren, Fredonia, and 

 Kendaia. In 1948, other varieties in 

 our vineyard failed to bear. Erie, 

 the earliest variety, does not produce 

 pollen. For this reason fruits pro- 

 duced during the year were neces- 

 sarily pollinated by the others noted 

 Seed of Erie was saved and planted, 

 resulting in 1,500 seedlings which 

 have been set in the field. From 

 them we hope to procure extra-early, 

 hardy, high-quality varieties, cap- 

 able of self-fertilization. 



RASPBERRIES 



DURHAM RASPBERRY 



In the spring of 1942 in the Uni- 

 versity Greenhouse, blossoms of Tay- 



