SELF-STERILE VARIETIES 31 



varieties which have proved their right to be considered money- 

 makers, and set in the latter a tree, or a graft even, of everything 

 that seems interesting and promising. Even this latter would 

 be sternly repressed by some authorities. But if one is to get the 

 fun out of the fruit business that he ought, it is certainly 

 allowable to have an experimental corner. 



Type of Market Influences Number. — In the commercial 

 orchard the question of number of varieties liinges very largely 

 on the type of market to which the owner wishes to cater. If he 

 is growing fruit, especially apples, for the general or wholesale 

 market then he wants relatively few sorts. With apples he might 

 even restrict his plantings to two or three varieties. Such a 

 grower expects to sell either through a commission man or to a 

 buyer in the orchard, and in either case he is much more likely 

 to make a satisfactory sale if he has one hundred barrels of 

 one variety than if he has only ten barrels each of ten sorts. 



If he has a good special or retail market then it seems 

 entirely legitimate to set as many as ten or a dozen varieties. 

 In the case of apples, for example, he wants a succession of 

 varieties from the very earliest to the very latest. He does not 

 want to work up a trade on his Yellow Transparents and Wil- 

 liams but lose it when Gravenstein and Llclntosh are in season 

 and have to work it up again for his Baldwins. More than that, 

 it is a good plan to have two or even three varieties available 

 at any one time so as to give customers a choice of several sorts. 

 One person may prefer Wageners while another one wants Kings 

 and a third is satisfied only with Palmer Greenings. This is a 

 doctrine which it is easy to carry too far, but, if kept within 

 bounds, it is a rational business policy. 



Self-sterile Varieties. — A point which should not be over- 

 looked in any orchard is the fact that many varieties are more or 

 less self-sterile, as it is called. That is, they will not bear fruit 

 unless the blossoms are *' fertilized " with pollen from some 

 other variety. There are various reasons for this failure to 

 produce fruit when planted alone. Sometimes it is due to de- 

 fective stamens which do not produce normal pollen; in other 

 cases the stamens do not mature their pollen when the pistils in 



