'64 AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH AND THE FARMER : 



necessary commercial qualities and will provide the grower with 

 suitable sorts to cover the whole season. At present he has a 

 wide choice, but relatively few varieties possess the combination 

 ■of characters entitling them to rank as first-rate commercial 

 sorts, and these only provide supplies for a portion of the season. 

 Apart from the general points, such as heavy cropping power, 

 •good flavour, etc., which apply to all fruits, specific qualities are 

 aimed at in particular kinds. In apples, pears and plums, for 

 •example, late-blossoming varieties, which run less risk of injury 

 from late frosts, are desired. In apples, particularly, the grower 

 wants varieties that will fill up the gaps at present existing in the 

 seasonal output, especially late-keeping sorts. The Station is 

 endeavouring to combine the cropping qualities of some of the 

 more prolific cider apples with the flavour of market varieties. 

 Resistance to disease is kept in view, e.p^., canker in apples, 

 silver leaf in plums, scab in pears, mildew in gooseberries, &c. 

 As regards soft fruits, varieties which will preserve and bottle 

 well are needed, and there is ample room for late and early kinds, 

 which would extend the present very short season. 



Breeding work, especially with such fruits as apples, is neces- 

 sarily slow in yielding results ; but a number of apple trees which 

 have been raised as the results of crosses made in the earUer years 

 of the work are now bearing crops, and some information regarding 

 the inheritance of chemical characters of the fruit has been ob- 

 tained. When dealing with soft fruits more rapid progress is 

 possible, and promising seedlings of strawberries, raspberries and 

 black currants have already been selected and are being propa- 

 gated for further trial on a larger scale. Breeding work with 

 tomatoes is also yielding encouraging results more quickly. 

 Although particular attention is being paid to the selection of 

 good varieties of fruit obtained as the result of crossing, yet at 

 the same time as man}^ observations as possible are being made 

 with the object of tracing the inheritance of various characters. 

 Information so gained should be of considerable value in the 

 future when endeavouring to attain desired combinations of 

 qualities by crossing. 



While this account of the research work on fruit culture has 

 been devoted primarily to the investigations on tree fruits, it 

 should be stated that the problems arising in connection with the 

 culture of soft fruits are not being neglected by the Institutes. 

 For the most part the subjects being dealt with have chiefly to 

 do with manuring and pest control, and are hardly advanced 

 enough to require detailed notice ; but at Long Ashton an mves- 

 tigation of considerable possibilities dealing with the fertility 

 •of strawberry plants calls for passing mention. A few years ago 



