PROMISING WILD FRUITS. 



649 



desirable ; Nicholas discarded. Preib, Evatt, Smith, 

 Byram and Remer are identical with the five just named. 

 Mr. Remer distributed scions both to nurserymen in 

 Kansas and Nebraska, but to each without the knowl- 

 edge of the other, hence there was no intentional decep- 

 tion upon the part of introducers. The Kansas man 

 obtained scions a year ahead, but lost them, so the 

 Nebraska collection was sent out first. 



Perhaps it is too soon to say how much farther north 

 than the common French apricots the Russians will 

 prove valuable ; but it is not a question of hardiness in 

 tree, simply of early blooming and consequent liability 

 to injury by frosts. To say the least, they promise an 

 occasional crop, especially when trained on walls, etc. , 

 where it would be hopeless but for the Russians. 



Peach stocks should be avoided, also myrobolan ; 

 native plums are good, except that they sucker, and are 

 variable as to hardiness. We believe the best stock, 

 not only for the Russians, but for all apricots, is the 

 Marianna plum. Five years ago we sent apricots on 

 Marianna to California and other states, and thus far 

 trees are in perfect health and vigor. 



From T. V. Munson, Denison, Texas. — As to hardi- 

 ness, Russian apricots have endured our climate pretty 

 well, though some suffered from the long continued 

 summer. It is rather too far south for them. 



I grew trees from seed obtained from Nebraska, grown 

 by Mennonites, and budded from the best trees that bore 

 fair or good very early fruit. I have not tried named 

 kinds of the Russian, but see little difference specifically 

 between the Russian seedlings and other varieties in cul- 

 tivation, such as Early Golden, Moorpark, etc. I under- 

 stand the apricot to be a native of Russia in Asia, grow- 

 ing in thickets on the head waters of the Yenisei, Obi 

 and other rivers, consequently would expect it to be 

 suited to such regions as Western Texas, Colorado, 

 New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, Central California, etc., 

 where the atmosphere is dry and proper irrigation can 

 be had. Here the apricot generally blooms too early 

 and gets killed by late frosts. The best soil is a calcar- 



eous loam, with sand or gravel enough to make it porous. 

 They should be fertilized with potash manures, and gen- 

 erally treated as are peach trees. 



So far as I know, the "Russian" varieties, or those 

 of more recent introduction from Russia, are valuable 

 owing to their early fruiting, extreme earliness and pro- 

 ductiveness and endurance of the climate of the north- 

 west where most older varieties fail from extreme cold. 

 But few of the varieties, however, are really valuable. 

 Most of the seedlings, as with seedlings of other classes 

 of fruits are worthless, being either sickly, too small or 

 too poor in quality to justify planting in orchards. 



They appear to do best upon peach stocks. I have 

 them upon Marianna plnm stocks, but they are not old 

 enough to speak of their permanent success thereon, 

 though so far they appear healthy and vigorous enough. 



CoNci.u.sioNS. — The following statements appear to 

 be warranted by the above correspondence : 



1. The Russian apricot is somewhat hardier than the 

 peach, and may be expected to endure the climate a 

 degree or two north of the peach belt. 



2. It blooms early and is liable to injury from late 

 spring frosts. 



3. Seedlings vary widely and many of them are 

 worthless. 



4. The fruit, even of the best sorts, is much inferior 

 to that of the older and better known varieties of 

 apricots. 



5. There is promise of considerable improvement 

 under proper care and selection. 



6. It is particularly liable to attacks of the curculio 

 and plum gouger. 



7. It works well upon common plum, upon Pnnnts 

 Americana, Marianna, peach and myrobolan. It is 

 probable that Marianna or some other of the native 

 plums will be found to be the most desirable stocks. 



8. In general, it appears that on the northern limits 

 of peach culture the best varieties of Russian apricot 

 are worth cultivation on a limited scale ; and they may 

 increase in value with further attention. 



PROMISING WILD FRUITS~II. 



ILD CRAB i^Pyrus coronaria). No one 

 will contend that our present culti- 

 vated varieties of the apple meet all 

 the requirements of apple culture in 

 the United States. There are too 

 few long-keeping varieties of high 



quality, especially for the south. The north requires 

 trees better adapted to withstand the winter. The 

 prairie states of the upper Mississippi valley need varie- 

 ties capable of resisting both excessive cold and heat. 

 In fact, our ordinary cultivated apples, which have been 

 developed from Pyriis Mains, a native of the compara- 

 tively moist, mild and uniform climate of Europe, find 

 themselves adapted to only a limited portion of this 

 country, namely, from the upper Atlantic coast west- 



ward and southwestward to the prairie region, and to a 

 portion of the northern Pacific slope. Elsewhere in the 

 United States apple culture is precarious, or confined to 

 few varieties, or favorable locations of limited area. 

 The most important attempt to extend this area of suc- 

 cessful apple culture has been the introduction of cul. 

 tivated varieties of Pyrns Mains ixom Russia. These 

 have proved partially successful on- our northern borders 

 east of the Great Lakes, but in the prairie soil and cli- 

 mate westward, they have failed so largely from blight, 

 sunscald, and the lack of keeping qualities, that less is 

 now expected of them than when they were first intro- 

 duced. These partial failures, have served to call the 

 attention of fruit-growers to our native crab-apple as a 

 possible source of varieties for cultivation. 



