116 



THE WESTERN POMOLOGIST„. 



1871 



we plant fifty acres to orchard exclusively of the 

 " iron clads." 



We give this orchard live times the care that 

 would be given an orchard of the same size at St. 

 Joseph, Mich., and in fifteen years what will be the 

 result V Will our orchard be as uniformly healthy 

 in appearance, will our fruit be as fair and keep as 

 well ? Nine out of ten will say " no; but it is the 

 fault of our climate more than of the trees." We 

 do not believe this. We can grow better Concord 

 grapes here than they can grow in Michigan, and 

 we can beat them every time in growing Duchess 

 of Oldenburg, or Tetofski. Why V Simply because 

 the habits of growth of the latter are just right for 

 us ; and with the tree just right our dry, pure air 

 will make better fruit every time. The St. Law- 

 rence, Gros Pomier, and Ben Davis are as near 

 adapted to our climate as perhaps any in our list. 

 But watch an orchard of such trees for ten years to- 

 gether and we will become convinced that thejf do 

 not often go into winter in precisely the right con- 

 dition. If a tree is to keep in perfect health and 

 set and mature its fruit well, it must go into winter 

 with its tissues loaded with the matter for the 

 first development of the leaf and fruit buds the suc- 

 ceeding spring. Year after year even the Ben Da- 

 vis fails to keep up a healthy action of leaf during 

 the summer drouth, and with the fall rains it rare- 

 ly fails to extend its growth in the terminal branch- 

 es, and to deposit new and imperfect woody tissue. 

 True, with the hardy sorts of the apple an extended 

 growth and deposit of wood is not made as with 

 the so called tender sorts. But with all of the Py- 

 rus Malus family the tendency is established to 

 grow more or l&ss and deposit new wood until 

 checked by cold weather. Further than this, we 

 may lay down the rule that every watery, imperfect 

 cell of wood or bark ruptured by winter frosts, gives 

 rise in the tree to fungus formations. You will see it 

 in the blighting of the fruit spurs upon the Snow ; 

 in the premature dropping of the fruit of the St. 

 Lawrence, many seasons, and even in the entire 

 failure of the fruit crop, sometimes caused b}' un- 

 sound woody deposit and deficient starch stored in 

 the tree in the fall to develop the germs of the fruit. 

 To get at the facts in a nutshell, we raise apples, 

 and with profit, but where would our profits be if 

 we raised them at Michigan prices? What we 

 want — and I truly believe we yet will have — is a 

 class of winter apples as perfectly at home with us, 

 and as free from spot and blemish as the Duchess, 

 Red Astrachan, and Tetofski are as summer fruits. 

 Plainly and briefly we have reason to believe such 

 a desirable class of winter apples can be produced 

 by cros.sing or hybridizing our common apple with 

 the Russian. There may be some who doubt that 

 the Russian apples belong to a distinct species. 

 Such would of course think the word "cros.s" the 

 piost appropriate. 



LAW OF HYBMDIZING. 



Hundreds of experiments have been made by the 

 botanists of Europe with a view of determining 

 by crossing whether plants were varieties or dis- 

 tinct species. Horticulturists and amateurs of Eu- 

 rope and America have also accomplished much in 

 this direction. ' An almost invariable principle 

 seems to have been established by these experi- 

 ments, viz. that if the most positively fixed and es- 

 tablished species or variety be used for the mother 

 stock, the vitality in the crosses produced will be 

 apt to follow the mother species, and the character 

 of the fruit will follow that from which the pollen 

 is taken. 



To illustrate : When Mr. Rogers of Salem, Mass., 

 undertook to hybridize the grape he took for his 

 mother stock the wild, rough, hirsute stemmed, 

 sage grape, of New England. He selected the wild 

 grape because it possessed the inherent vitality that 

 he wished to communicate. He fertilized with the 

 Black Hamburg and White Chasselas grapes that 

 can only be grown in our climate under glass. As 

 he expected, he retained the vigor of vine and leaf 

 of the wild sage grape, and the fruit of his hybrids 

 almost equalled — some sa}' excelled — the hot house 

 grapes he used in fertilizing. 



On this principle, if the Tetofski were our moth- 

 er stock, and the Grimes' Golden or Raules Jannett 

 pollen was used, we might expect an early maturing 

 tree with a leaf and evaporating surtace standing 

 any extreme, and a part of the hybrids we might 

 expect to be late keeping apples of good quality 

 and size. 



Some may ask why does not wdure produce such 

 hybrids. The answer is obvious after a moment's 

 thought. If the blossom of the Russian apple re- 

 tains its own pollen, and it becomes mixed with the 

 pollen of a neighboring tree it would produce only 

 a " deflection " from the Russian type of apple and 

 in no case a hybrid retaining the habit of leaf and 

 growth of the Russian, and the character of fruit 

 of the adjoining tree of the common apple. In our 

 experiments in this direction we must carefully re- 

 move fie anthers of the tree to be fertilized, and af- 

 ter fertilizing with the pollen of the winter apple 

 selected, the whole branch or tree fertilized should 

 be covered with musquito bar or something of the 

 .sort to keep ofl' insects. More extended explana- 

 tions of the modus operandi of hybridizing, can be 

 found in our fruit books than can be here given. 



In conclusion we will refer to another plan for 

 improvement of our apple in leaf structure and 

 habits of growth. 



The native crab of the West is so widely dif- 

 ferent in all its habits from our common apple, that 

 doubts have been expressed if it could be success- 

 fully hybridized. Those who have carefully studied 

 the fruit and habit of the Soulard Crab tree 

 will see evidence conclusive of a natural " deflec- 



