XIX 



THE SELECTION OF VARIETIES 



ONE of the most important, as well as one of the 

 most difficult problems which the fruit grower has to 

 solve is the choice of the varieties he is to grow. 

 There are many things to be taken into consideration, 

 and the novice is apt to be influenced by many notions 

 and prejudices which have no foundation in fact. The 

 following principles have been pretty well established 

 by the experience of a whole generation of successful 

 American fruit growers. 



1. Choose very few varieties for commercial plan- 

 tations. Two or three varieties are enough for most 

 men. Any grower who now has even five varieties 

 in bearing can easily show himself that one or two of 

 them are decidedly more profitable than the others. It 

 would therefore seem the part of wisdom for him to 

 discard the less profitable ones. 



2. Choose varieties which the market wants. A 

 man may think that Fameuse is a better apple than 

 Baldwin, but if the buyers want Baldwins and not 

 Fameuse, the fruit grower must grow Baldwins. 



3. Commercial varieties must be perfectly adapted 

 to the soil and climate where they are to be grown. 

 A man can grow the family favorites without regard 

 to this rule, but when he is competing with thousands 

 of other growers for a profit in the market he can- 

 not afford to carry any unnecessary handicap. There 

 is much yet to be learned regarding the niceties of 

 soil and climate adaptations of varieties. 



