1910.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 31. 197 



Climatic Vaeiations. 



The variations in the college orchard are comparatively slight 

 when compared with those observed when apples from widely 

 separated localities are compared. This variation has been 

 often observed and noted, but so far as the writer knows there 

 has been no attempt to study systematically and record it. The 

 work here reported is a beginning. The study is based on a 

 careful examination and measurement of twenty lots of apples 

 of the crop of 1907 and of twenty-five of the crop of 1908, re- 

 ceived from growers in different localities in the United States 

 and Canada. These lots were generally about a bushel each. 

 The numbers are given in Table 3. An attempt \vas made to se- 

 cure apples from the same orchards both years, but on account 

 of crop failures and other reasons this was unsuccessful in a few 

 cases. In addition to these, several smaller samples have been 

 received from other localities which, while not large enough for 

 the SBme sort of study, serve to indicate the gradual variation 

 of the variety when passing from one region to another. In the 

 following pages the variation of form, size, quality and other 

 characters are separately taken up and considered. 



Discussion of the Variation. 



Form. 



The most important character studied was that of form, and 

 the variation of this w^as nothing short of remarkable. One 

 familiar with the variety in a certain locality would hardly 

 recognize it as grown perhaps not more than one or two hun- 

 dred miles away. Much time was given to the study of this, 

 and careful measurements of more than 9,000 apples from the 

 different localities were made and calculated by statistical 

 methods. 



The different lots may be grouped in four classes as regards 

 the general form, as follows : — 



1. The oblong conic, more or less ribbed form from the 

 Maine seacoast and Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. 



2. The round conic type from the north central and north- 

 eastern United States and southern Canada, from as far south 



