46 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



None of the varieties from this first crossing were large enough 

 to compare favorably with good sized apples. The best of these 

 first crosses were, in 1904, crossed with the apple again. In this 

 work some of the same parents used in the first crossing, such as 

 Duchess, Mcintosh, and Yellow Transparent were again used and 

 over 400 trees were obtained. Of these 24 have borne apples two 

 inches and more in diameter, some of the largest being 2^ inches. 

 Most of these second crosses retain the long slender stem, the thin 

 tender skin and the breaking flesh which are characteristic of Pyrus 

 baccaia. These are now being tested for hardiness on the prairies, 

 but it is too soon yet to reach conclusions, but the foundation has 

 been laid for a new race of apples specially suited to prairie condi- 

 tions. 



Work in developing apples for the Canadian prairies is going on 

 in another direction. A few of the hardiest Russian apples are 

 succeeding in favored parts of the prairies, and to obtain, if possible, 

 other and better varieties which will succeed even under the severest 

 test, many thousand seedling trees of the hardiest Russian varieties 

 are set out as yearlings in nursery rows and exposed to the severe 

 weather. Many of these trees though still young and not yet in 

 bearing have gone through from two to three winters without 

 material injury and it is expected that at least a few hardy, good 

 sorts will be obtained in this way. 



There are, however, no perfect varieties of apples available 

 even for those milder parts of Canada where apples are grown in 

 large quantities, there being one or more weak points in them all. 

 An endeavor has, therefore, been made to obtain other and better 

 apples covering the whole season from early summer to late winter, 

 and the results so far have been very gratifying, though there is 

 much yet to be done. 



Seed was sown at Ottawa in 1898 of such well-known varieties 

 as Northern Spy, Mcintosh, Wealthy, Fameuse, American Golden 

 Russet, Shiawassee, Gano, and others. From the trees grown 

 from this seed, detailed descriptions have been made of over 1211 

 varieties which have fruited. Descriptions were made of good, 

 poor, and indifferent seedlings, the object being to get some data 

 which would show the proportion of characters of the mother tree 

 which were reproduced to at least some extent in the seedlings. 



