the North Caucasian peach and Oriole and certain commercial varieties, 

 including Meredith and Jerseyland, stones of the peaches have been cracked 

 in the spring following stratification and the seeds germinated in sand in 

 the greenhouse. Just as the seeds are germinating and beginning to come up 

 through the sand, the young seedlings are classified as to color. About one- 

 half are white and are discarded. Only those showing yellow color have been 

 planted in the field. At least 95 percent accuracy has been possible by this 

 method of early elimination of undesired seedlings. The accuracy is better 

 for predicting flesh color of the fruits than that of trying to use the color 

 of the midribs of the leaves in the early fall of the first year the seedling 

 trees have grown in the field. 



Progress is being made also through the use of genetically hardy peach 

 parents which include a white-fleshed seedling from Minnesota which has 

 been combined with yellow-flesh selections made in New Hampshire. Crosses 

 have been made also between a white-fleshed nectarine, Nectarcrest. and 

 hardy yellow kinds. The first-generation white fruits have had unusually 

 fine edible quality, but little has been learned yet regarding their relative 

 hardiness. 



Blackberries 



The blackberry is not a dependable cultivated crop in New Hampshire, 

 although wild blackberries are abundant. The hardiest of the cultivated 

 varieties is Snyder, but its fruits have poor quality and the berries are 

 rather small. A probable seedling of Snyder, known in the state as Maple 

 Grove, resembles Snyder closely and is somewhat better in quality than the 

 older variety. Even the new varieties from the Geneva, New York. Experi- 

 ment Station have killed back too 

 badly most winters to give a satisfac- 

 tory crop. A cross made between L6, 

 one of the New York varieties, and 

 Snyder resulted in many seedlings, 

 yHnHH|^^^^^M|M|nmHp>^ one of which is being distributed in 



%^^^^HH^HHiBIIHIiB^^^ a limited wav as New Hampshire ^1 



Blackberry. It is productive of large 

 berries and may be nearly as hardy 

 as Snyder. While this is not the best 

 possible variety, it is an improvement 

 over present ones. Crosses have also 

 been made between Geneva No. 32, 

 the best of the New York varieties for 

 quality, and a selected nearly thorn- 

 less wild blackberry from nearby 

 New Hampshire woods. None of a 

 considerable number of seedlings 

 have seemed promising up to the 

 present. Presumably they are triploids. They are rather hardy, but are par- 

 tially sterile. It is proposed to grow a second generation from the best of 

 these. 



New Hampshire No. 1 blackberry. This 



selection has larger and higher quality 



fruit than Snyder, the present standard 



of hardiness. 



12 



