330 POMOLOGY 



home use they have filled a need in regions where other plums 

 could not be grown. This tribe is of special interest also 

 because of its hybrid origin and suggests the promise to new 

 regions which such combinations may have. From this work 

 of Hansen, the Northwest has profited by varieties of many 

 fruits and his work shows clearly what can be accomplished 

 in horticulture by breeding. 



290. Burbank's work. — The life and work of Luther 

 Burbank of Santa Rosa, California, has been a great stimulus 

 to plant-breeding. This is doubtless due to the great novelty 

 of his creations and to the extent of his work. He has ever 

 held in mind the production of fruits and other plants which 

 would be of the greatest use and economic value and has 

 held as secondaiy the accumulation of scientific data. 



Perhaps pomology has profited more from his introduction 

 of Japanese plums, and the seedlings and hybrids which he 

 has obtained from them, than from any other achievement. 

 He has succeeded in hybridizing diverse forms of fruits, some 

 valuable for commercial purposes and others as novelties. 



291. Inheritance of characters in the apple. — One of the 

 few definite experiments in breeding apples, which has thrown 

 some light on the inheritance of characters, is the one con- 

 ducted by Hedrick and Wellington.^ The results not only 

 throw light on some of the laws of inheritance of apples but 

 also furnish some practical results in the way of promising 

 new varieties. 



There were 148 crosses made between standard varieties 

 in 1898 and 1899. The seedling trees began fruiting in 1908 

 but the grafts from them four years earlier. Crosses were 

 made between Ben Davis, as the female parent, and Esopus, 

 Green Newtown, Jonathan, Mcintosh, and Mother; between 

 Esopus as the female and Ben Davis and Jonathan; Mcin- 

 tosh and Lawver; Ralls and Northern Spy; Rome and North- 

 ^ Loc. cil. 



