XVIII. 



ARE AMERICAN VARIETIES OF FRUITS 



BEST ADAPTED TO AMERICAN 



CONDITIONS r 



Fruit growers assume that the varieties which 

 have originated in this country are better adapted to 

 our soil, climate and market than those imported from 

 other countries. While the presumption favors this 

 idea, the proposition demands investigation, and, if 

 true, it should be capable of proof. It is obvious 

 that domestic varieties are best adapted to the demands 

 of our markets, because those seedlings which most 

 nearly meet these demands have been selected and 

 propagated. The commercial ideals are definite and 

 easily satisfied, and we need not longer consider them 

 here. But the adaptations to all those various condi- 

 tions and phenomena which we collectively designate 

 as climate are obscure, and they have not been care- 

 fully studied ; and this relationship of American va- 

 rieties to American climate, so far as it concerns some 

 of the general adaptations of our fruits, is the par- 

 ticular subject of this paper. 



We can draw some useful conclusions from a com- 

 parison of our native flora with that of Europe, whence 

 most of our foreign fruits are derived. With the 



'Paper read before the American Horticultural Society, Chicago, September 

 29, 1892. Printed in Garden and Forest, v. 518 (November 2, 1892). 



(311) 



