BREEDS OF FRUITS AND THEIR SURVIVAL 663 
BUCKWHEAT, See Apple Orchard, Cove? 
Crops. 
Buppine, See Apple, Propagation of; 
Peach, Propagation of, etc. 
Breeds of Fruits and Their 
Survival 
Plants are coming into as much prom- 
inence as are animals by breeding and it 
is eminently proper to speak of the breeds 
of farm crops or the breeds of fruits. A 
breed is the result of domestication, at 
least we may say so if we apply the term 
breed to a plant which we have artificial- 
ly endowed with a pedigree Perhaps it 
is taking liberties with the dictionary to 
call an improved kind or type of apple a 
breed, but no other word conveys just 
the meaning I desire For example, if 
I speak of the Wealthy apple as a breed 
of apples we naturally think of the gen- 
eral characteristics of the Wealthy ap- 
ple and still allow for a considerable 
variation in different localities due to the 
action of soil and climate, and it is with 
special reference to apples that I would 
speak of the survival of breeds or vari- 
eties if you prefer that word 
Fruit growers in the West have come 
to recognize certain climate and soil 
areas as suited to particular kinds and 
varieties of fruits. This is especially 
true in California, where in one valley 
or even in one portion of a valley, the 
farmers determine one particular kind 
that succeeds best and then grow that 
kind almost or quite exclusively, while 
in an adjoining valley or section a differ- 
ent fruit will be grown. So, too, a state, 
or one particular section of a state, be- 
comes famous for some particular breed 
of fruit The California Belle Fleur ap- 
ple in uniform boxes of uniformly graded 
fruit now finds its way into many mar- 
kets. Southwestern Colorado is becom- 
ing a Jonathan region. Other parts of 
the West are growing Wagener, or Spitz- 
enburg, or Rome Beauty, or McIntosh 
Red, or Wealthy, and so on. At the local 
apple shows some one variety usually 
predominates. Of course there are a num- 
ber of hardy and widely adapted fruits 
that appear in every exhibition. We 
nearly always find among the apples given 
most prominence at the county and state 
fairs in the mountain region well grown 
specimens of Yellow Transparent, Duch- 
ess, Wealthy, Wolf River, Alexander, 
Longfield, Northwest Greening, Fameuse, 
Bietigheimer, McMahon, Gano and others, 
including most of the large and small 
crabs It often occurs at these shows 
that one or more varieties will be shown 
that no one is able to name. 
In the pioneer days of apple grow- 
ing, the would-be horticulturist has had 
no guide and the only judgment with 
which he made selections of varieties was 
a memory of some good or favorite kind 
which he was acquainted with in his boy- 
hood days. Usually he has been more or 
less skeptical about the success of any 
domesticated thing which he would trans- 
plant to untried soils, and he is ready to 
try anything new which is called to his 
attention. Tree agents are not slow 
about recommending anything of which 
their nurseries have stock for sale. It 
is said that some five thousand varieties 
of apples are known in the world. Of 
all the varieties planted in any locality, 
a comparatively small number have sur- 
vived. Perhaps hundreds of Wyoming 
ranchmen and farmers have purchased 
and planted quince and apricot trees, but 
I have yet to hear of or see a ripe fruit 
of either quince or apricot in this state. 
Of the hundreds of varieties of apples the 
successful commercial kinds may be count- 
ed on the fingers of both hands for the 
whole state, 
There are several reasons why the many 
varieties do not survive. In the first 
place fruits are more or less domesticated 
and they are transferred to a new region 
before the soil has been tamed and made 
ready for them. Then the western pio- 
neer has been doing things in a large 
way and generally fails to attend to the 
necessary little details of plant culture. 
Someone has said that those plants which 
require the most care are given the best 
cultivation, inferring that the apple is 
so easily grown that it is subjected to 
general lack of care and neglect and this 
condition has certainly fitted our attempts 
