ORIGIN AND IMPROVEMENT OF FRUIT 329 



of fruits tested, "only two trees remain." "One of these, 

 the Wealthy, grown from a cherry-crab seed, obtained from 

 Albert Emerson, of Bangor, Maine, of whom I obtained 

 scions at the same time, from which I grew the Duchess, 

 Blue Peannain, and the cheriy-crab, all of which, combined, 

 were the foundation of Minnesota horticulture, that to-day 

 is the pride and hope of the Northwest." ^ "Thus far it 

 has taken from three to five hundred seedlings to give us 

 one first-class apple, and from seed taken from the best 

 apples we had." 



Patten, Watrous, and others of Iowa and the Central West 

 also contributed much of the foundation work in securing 

 hardy fruits for the prairie states. 



289. Hansen hybrids. — N. E. Hansen of South Dakota 

 has effected many inter-specific combinations between 

 Prunus Besseyi, the western sand cherry, as one parent and 

 varieties of P. salicina or P. Munsoniana as the other; and 

 other combinations have also been made. In these "Hansen 

 hybrids" a new tyi^e of plum has come into use in the North- 

 west. While these sand cheriy crosses have been experi- 

 mented with for some time, the success of the variety "Com- 

 pass" cherry has added impetus to the movement. While 

 the saad cherry is one of the parents of these crosses, they 

 in reality are not cherries but plums. One of the outstanding 

 characteristics of these hybrids is the profuse early fruiting 

 habit. They often bear at three years of age and as they 

 grow best in bush form and fruit on the terminal shoots, 

 winter-killing affects them less. Under the prairie conditions 

 of the Upper Mississippi Valley in the United States and 

 Canada, varieties like Sapa, Opata, Etopa, Wakapa, and 

 Okiya have been a boon to the homesteader. These fruits 

 rot easily and cannot be shipped for long distances, but for 



' Some doubt exists in regard to the source of the seed which procUiced 

 the Wealthy apple, as is reported in Minn. Hort. 1917. p. 85. 



