STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 45 



the full results of his work in that direction, still he has accom- 

 plished a great deal. His attention was first called to this line of 

 work by the apple which has been referred to here in the paper, the 

 "Wealthy, which was grown from seeds furnished him by Mr. Albert 

 Emerson of Bangor. That seed is supposed to be a cross from the 

 crab apple, which gives it its superior nardiness. And it is a very 

 satisfactory fact that the Wealthy apple promises to be adapted to 

 a wider extent of this northern country than any other fruit hereto- 

 fore discovered of like high quality. Thus has occurred one of the 

 greatest benefactions in this direction that has ever been handed 

 down to us ; and this was an accident ; yet accidents have given the 

 cue to what may be accomplished by design, and that is, the cross- 

 fertilization of hardy varieties with other hardy varieties of higher 

 qualit}'. This is what is being done, and Mr. Gideon has now on 

 hand some 25,000 seedling apple trees that are being grown for the 

 purpose of showing the quality of fruit which has resulted from his 

 cross- fertilization. These trees will all be fruited and the quality of 

 tlie fruit tested, and from that number it is expected, and reason- 

 ably expected, that a large number of valuable varieties may result. 

 He already has some twenty different varieties which he calls valu- 

 able acquisitions. They have not been dissemmated to any consider- 

 able extent ; except to test them in different localities ; they are not 

 given to the general public yet ; still, unquestionably, there are val- 

 uable varieties there. 



Now, when you take into consideration the results achieved with 

 the limited efforts that have been carried on up to the present time, 

 you see we may well believe that very much greater efforts will 

 succeed, in the future, as we gain knowledge of how to go to work, 

 what to cross with and how to bring about the desired results. 

 The limit can hardly be conceived, and without any question the 

 time is near at hand when we shall produce varieties of a high qual- 

 ity that may be adapted to our Northern (^Mmate. It is a curious 

 fact, in this connection, that we have families of apples, like the 

 Fameuse, for example — which is grown about Montreal, whole 

 neighborhoods confining their orchards to that one variety — that 

 reproduce themselves very closely. The Fameuse blossoms are 

 crossed with Fameuse blossoms, and, as with our native Fameuse 

 and the Canada Fameuse, they propagate themselves very closely 

 indeed ; and these Fameuse apples, varying only very slightly, have 

 been multiplied almost indefinitely. The same occurs in Russia ; 



