424 
“We have for three years been carry- 
ing on apple breeding experiments at 
this station, the object being to secure 
an apple better adapted to Idaho condi- 
tions than now existing varieties. In 
the spring of 1910 we made approxi- 
mately 5,000 crosses. From this work we 
got a little better than 2,000 apples. The 
varieties that we are using are Ben 
Davis, Spitzenburg, Wagener, Jonathan 
and Winesap. In the fall of 1910 I 
noticed a variation in size, flavor and 
color. The color factor was the most 
interesting one to me, AS a rule the 
female parent characters were exceed- 
ingly strong. By placing the apple from 
certain parents together, such as Jona- 
than and Ben Davis, and comparing this 
bunch of apples with the apples secured 
by a Spitzenburg and Ben Davis cross, 
I noticed a very superior color on the 
latter crop. In other words, when the 
Spitzenburg was used as a male the 
erosses all showed the Ben Davis char- 
acters in form, size and texture of flesh, 
but much more highly colored than the 
crosses where the Ben Davis was used 
as a male and the above named variety 
used as a female. These conditions were 
not so noticeable among our crosses of 
1911 but were slightly showing. We do 
not have sufficient proof at the present 
time to say that such conditions will 
always exist but I am inclined to think 
that the color character will respond to 
environmental influence more quickly 
than any others.*” 
W. H. Wicks, 
University of Idaho, College of Agriculture. 
“In all of my long years of experience 
in hand pollinating apple blossoms in 
connection with apple breeding work, I 
have rarely seen any change in color or 
form which could be attributed only to 
the immediate influence of the pollen. 
There came to my notice some years 
ago, an apple on which two-fifths was 
the color of the Pewaukee. The apple 
was produced on a Pewaukee tree in 
* Observation on the 1912 crop convinced 
Professor Wicks that there was nothing in the 
theory and that the supposed effects on the 
id crop were due to environmental causes.—~ 
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PRACTICAL HORTICULTURE 
which the branches interlaced with those 
of an adjacent Wealthy tree The effect 
of the immediate influence of pollen was 
so clear and unmistakable that I haq 
the apple modeled in wax. The model is 
now in the museum at the State Exper. 
ment Station at Geneva, N. Y” 
S. H Bricu, 
Towa State College and Expeiiment Station 
“There is good reason to believe that 
the source of pollen might, to a very 
limited extent, modify the size of the 
fruit produced and, in some rare cases, 
the color to a slight extent.” 
O. M. Morais, 
State College of Washington 
“In my own experience I do not re. 
member any instance that attracted my 
attention save occasional specimens of 
apples seen bearing, say, a sharply de- 
fined longitudinal band of red on a yel- 
lowish apple, the band covering one-fifth, 
two-fifths or three-fifths of the apple. 
The only explanation I have ever seen 
of this is that the apple, having five 
stigmas, in this case, one, two or three 
stigmas had been pollinated with pollen 
from a red variety, but this, I think, 1s 
merely a theoretical explanation.” 
EX. WaALKErr, 
College of Agriculture, Fayetteville, Ark 
SELF-FERTILE AND SELF-STERILE 
FRUITS 
Some varieties of fruits are more or 
less completely unable to pollinate them- 
selves, and they should be planted near 
other varieties to insure fruitfulness. 
Any variety will fertilize any other 
variety of the same species, so far as 
known, if the bloom occurs at the same 
time. In general, in planting a self- 
Sterile variety, every second or third 
row should be planted to some other 
variety. The subject is little understood, 
but the following lists represent the best 
of our knowledge. 
Pears (Waite) 
Varieties more or less self-sterile— 
Anjou, Bartlett, Boussock, Clairgeau, 
Clapp, Columbia, De la Chene, Doyenne 
