The Canadian Horticulturi^ 



Vol. XXIX 



DECEMBER, 1906 



No. 12 



The Relation of Winter Apples to Hardiness of Tree* 



W. T. Macoun, Horticulturist, Central Experimental Farm, Otta-wa 



mi 

 111, 



THE search for a hardy, productive 

 winter apple of good color and the 

 best dessert quality is becoming an 

 old story in the north-western states, in 

 the north-central and eastern portions 

 of the province of Ontario, throughout 

 the province of Quebec, and over a large 

 part of the province of New Brunswick. 

 (Jver this immense territory the cry for 

 many years has been for a long-keeping 

 apple which will compare favorably, in 

 all particulars, with the best long-keep- 

 ing apples grown in the more favored 

 parts of the American continent. Why 

 does this search still go on? And will 

 the desired apple ever be found? These 

 two questions I shall attempt to answer 

 in this short paper. 



From the writer's experience with 

 over 3,000 species and varieties of trees 

 '■ and shrubs, exclusive of cultivated fruits, 

 from many countries and climates, that 

 are under his care and observation at 

 the Central Experimental Farm, Ottawa, 

 have drawn the following conclusions 

 regarding hardiness of trees: A tree or 

 shrub which will withstand a test 

 ji;winter at Ottawa must be one which 

 •ripens its wood early. 



Trees or shrubs which are native to 

 places having a longer or much longer 

 owing season than at Ottawa, grow 

 nger than the native species, or those 

 rem a somewhat similar climate to the 

 tive species. When a test winter 

 mes, their wood js not sufficiently 

 ipened, or winter-resistant, and they 

 lire more or less injured or perish. 

 After 17 years' observation of this 

 rge collection, which has increased to 

 iver 3,000 species and varieties, it may 

 le said that with scarcely an exception, 

 ind these doubtful ones, no apparent 

 crease in hardiness has taken place in 

 individual specimens. Plants which 

 lied to the ground 17 years ago, kill to 

 e ground still. Those which killed 

 the snow line, kill to the snow line 

 ill. Those which are killed back one- 

 If or merely a few inches at the tip do 

 still. Sometimes a tree will remain 

 rdy for several years and then kill 

 ck to near the ground. It is possible 

 at they are getting hardier very 



♦Read before the last convention of the Que- 

 ec Pomological Society. 



gradually, but if so this increasing hardi- 

 ness is imperceptible so far. Another 

 observation regarding tender trees has 

 been that after a season when the growth 

 has been strong more injury is Ukely to 

 occur than in a season when the growth 

 is short. 



Individual specimens of certain species 

 have been found hardier than others. 

 This has been particularly noticeable in 

 the case of Catalpa bignonioides which, 

 as a rule, kills back badly at Ottawa, but 

 some individual trees have proven much 

 hardier and bloom freely at Ottawa. 

 The raising of seedlings from these tender 

 species has not been carried on long 

 enough to state positively, from our 

 own experience, that hardier types will 

 be produced in this way, but the history 

 of such work makes us hopeful. Some 

 favorable results have, however, already 

 been obtained. 



All Meat- No Waste 



You are making The Canadian 

 Horticulturist very valuable. It 

 is all meat, free from bone and 

 waste. I have pleasure and profit 

 in reading it.^ — Frances Wayland 

 Glen, Brooklyn, N.Y. 



Let us now turn to the hardiness of 

 apple trees, and we might include all 

 other large fruits that have been tested 

 at Ottawa. About 700 named varieties 

 of apples have been tested. It has been 

 found that a far larger proportion of 

 those which originated in the eastern 

 and south-western states are tenderer 

 than those which originated in the north- 

 eastern and north-western states and in 

 Canada. The same may be said of 

 Europe. The hardy varieties from 

 Great Britain, France, and Germany are 

 few compared with thos^ from the colder 

 parts of Russia. The exact figures have 

 not yet been worked out, but may be 

 before this paper is published. It may 

 be stated safely that the hardiest apples 

 are those which have originated in 

 Russia. They are the hardiest survivors 

 of the hundreds and thousands of varie- 

 ties which have originated in Russia 



during the past centuries, and have 

 shown their abihty to withstand the 

 winters there as far north as latitude 55°, 

 or further in a continental climate. In 

 America, and especially in the colder 

 parts of the country, the origination of 

 varieties has been more recent, and we 

 believe that it will be some time before 

 such hardy kinds as Hibernal, Charla- 

 moff, and Duchess will be obtained on 

 this continent, although some quite 

 hardy varieties have already been orig- 

 inated. 



By again analyzing the list of varieties 

 tested, we find that the season of all the 

 hardiest varieties is summer or autumn. 

 The winter of 1903-4 was a very severe 

 one in Ontario, and in the orchards at 

 the Central Experimental Farm, and 

 164 varieties of apples were winter killed. 

 An analysis of these varieties, a list of 

 which was published in the annual report 

 for 1904, shows that 130 of these were 

 early winter and winter varieties, and 

 34 summer and autumn. This is suffi- 

 cient evidence to prove that summer and 

 autumn varieties are hardier than later 

 keeping sorts. 



Let us now consider the difference 

 between a summer and a winter apple. 



A summer apple is one that is ready 

 for use in the summer; a winter apple is 

 one that is not ready for use until winter. 

 The season of the first is much shorter 

 than the second, mainly because it 

 reaches maturity in a hotter time of the 

 year than the others. Duchess and 

 Wealthy apples will keep much longer 

 on Prince Edward Island, where the 

 climate is cooler and development slower 

 than they will at Ottawa. Winter apples 

 will also keep better there than they will 

 in those parts of Ontario where they 

 succeed. 



It has been observed frequently that 

 apples which mature early and are in 

 condition for eating in summer and 

 autumn are grown on trees that ripen 

 their wood early, and on the other hand, 

 an apple which is not ready for use until 

 winter is usually grown on a tree that 

 does not ripen its wood early. This is a 

 fact which many have observed and that 

 is perfectly natural. The fniit of most 

 varieties of winter apples has to be kept 

 on the trees at Ottawa until there is 



