Published  by 
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333  W.  30th  Street 
New  York 
The  Rural  New  Yorker 
The  Business  Farmer’s  Paper 
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Single  Copies,  Five  Cents 
Vol.  LXXV. 
NEW  YORK,  MARCH  4.  1910 
No.  4308 
Breeding  New  Apples 
The  Story  of  their  Development 
Disregarding  seedlings,  how  are  new  varieties  of  ap¬ 
ples  originated?  Take  for  i.nstanee  the  Newton  Spitz- 
enbm  g,  a  most  valuable  apple  in  my  orchard,  combining 
the  qifnlitie.s  of  both  parents.  If  by  cross- fertilization, 
why  would  not  bees  mix  an  orchard  all  up,  if  it  con¬ 
tained  mixed  varieties?  1  understand  variations  in 
oranges  are  got  by  grafting  one  kind  on  another,  which 
would  never  work  with  apples.  Out'  apple  varieties  are 
constant  no  matter  how  many  hers  there  may  be  or  bow 
much  we  graft.  If  we  were  to  fertilize  Newtown  Spitz- 
on burg  bloosoms  we  would  only  get  the  Newtown  Spitz- 
erlmrg’s  fruit,  and  we  would  not  propagate  from  that. 
I  am  much  puzzled  the  more  I  think  of  it.  w.  b.  w. 
THEBE  are  four  distinct  questions  in  W.  R.  W.’s 
letter.  Taking  them  in  order,  the  first  is: 
“Disregarding  seedlings,  hair  are  new  varieties  of 
apples  ( irif/inaled ?”  In  answering  this  question,  one 
could  almost  say  that  varieties  of  apples  do  not  or¬ 
iginate  except  from  seeds,  but  this  would  not  be  quite 
true.  Occasionally,  very  occasionally,  a  variety  or¬ 
iginates  as  a  sport  or  mutation,  a  mutation  being  a 
variation  which  is  constant  or  breeds  true.  Thus 
the  nectarine  sprung  from  the  peach,  a  russet  Bart¬ 
lett  from  a  smooth-skinned  Bartlett,  and  a  red 
1  wenty-Ounce  front  it  striped  one.  Usually  these 
sports  differ  from  the  parent  only  in  one  or  at  most 
a  lew  characters.  So  far  there  are  no  known  means 
of  causing  plants  to  sport  or  mutate.  Mutations 
come,  too,  like  bolts  out  of  the  blue,  so  that  no  one 
neither  knows  when  nor  where  to  look  for  them. 
1  n fortunately,  there  are  transient  variations  in 
all  plants  induced  by  soil,  bout,  light,  moisture  and 
other  environmental  conditions  which  cannot  be 
told  by  inspection  from  true  mutations.  Those  are 
called  fluctuating  variations.  Since  constant  varia¬ 
tions  are  always  more  or  less  mixed  with  the  fluctu¬ 
ating  ones  in  plants  the  variation  from  which  a  va- 
iiet\  can  come  are  told  only  by  propagating  and 
glowing  the  supposed  mutation  through  several  gen¬ 
erations.  To  pretend  to  tell  mutations  in  plants  by 
inspecting  tree  or  fruit  is  quackery  pure  and  simple. 
What  percentage  of  the  apples  commonly  cul¬ 
tivated  have  originated  as  sports  or  mutations?  In 
Bulletin  301  from  the  Geneva  Experiment  Station. 
804  varieties  are  described,  and  out  of  this  number, 
so  far  as  could  he  learned,  not  more  than  three  or¬ 
iginated  as  bud-mutations.  Each  of  these  differs 
from  its  parent  only  in  color  of  fruit,  answers  the 
same  purpose,  is  adapted  to  the  same  environment 
and  would  sell  in  any  market  under  the  parental 
name,  though  by  reason  of  brighter  color  all  ought 
to  bring  better  prices.  One  sees  at  once.  then,  that 
there  is  small  opportunity  to  improve  apples  through 
hud  mutations  and  that  we  must  fall  back  upon 
seeds.  This  brings  us  to  the  next  question. 
“/./  (plants  originate )  by  cross-fertilization,  why 
would  not  bees  mi*  an  orchard  all  up  if  it  contained 
■mi. red  varieties ?"  Before  answering  this  question 
we  must  set  the  questioner  straight  in  the  matter  of 
“mixing  an  orchard  all  up"  by  cross-fertilization. 
I!e,  in  common  with  many  others,  seems  to  expect 
a  direct  effect  of  pollen,  the  male  element  in  a 
plant,  on  a  fertilized  fruit;  hut  there  is  no  such 
effect  in  apples.  As  an  example,  one  cannot  tell 
from  the  apples  whether  Rhode  Island  Greening 
Packing  Apples  on  a  Michigan  Fruit  Farm.  Fig.  99 
fruits  have  been  fertilized  by  pollen  from  Baldwin, 
Northern  Spy,  King  or  its  own  flowers.  This  is 
true  with  all  fruits.  In  fact  the  only  common  plant 
in  which  the  direct  effect  of  pollen  is  to  he  seen  is 
corn,  where,  if  the  varieties  are  widely  different  as 
field  and  pop,  or  pop  and  sweet,  or  red  and  white, 
there  is  the  "mixing”  which  our  correspondent  ex¬ 
pects  in  apples.  For  this  phenomenon,  peculiar  to 
corn,  technically  called  xenia,  there  is  full  explan¬ 
ation  which  may  not  be  entered  into  here. 
Having  disposed  of  the  notion  that  there  is  in 
fruits  an  immediate  influence  of  the  pollen  parent 
on  the  fruit  of  the  pistillate  parent,  we  may  discuss 
the  origin  of  new  varieties  of  apples  from  seeds. 
Apple  seeds  may  he  fertilized  by  pollen  from  the 
tree  or  variety  which  bears  the  fruit  or  from  flowers 
of  a  different  variety.  In  the  first  ease  the  variety 
is  said  to  he  seifiil ;  in  the  second  crossed.  Do 
most  varieties  come  from  selfed  seed  or  crossed  seed ? 
Ill  looking  up  the  histories  of  the  804  varieties 
(Continued  on  page  308.) 
The  Next  Quarter  Century 
Outlook  for  Horticultural  Development 
What  is  probably  going  to  happen  to  horticulture 
during  the  ne.rt  twenty-five  gears? 
TITI OUT  better  management  than  in  the  past 
the  soil  will  gradually  lose  more  of  its  prim¬ 
itive  strength:  this  better  management  we  may  con¬ 
fidently  look  for  by  way  of  heeding  the  many  dem¬ 
onstrations  in  extension  work  freely  spread  over  the 
country, 
Plants  grown  for  flowers  or  foliage  for  ornament 
will  continue  in  great  variety  to  increase  by  way  of 
occasional  new  species  from  remote  regions,  but  the 
chief  source  of  new  things  will  be  brought  out  by 
thousands  of  skilful  hands  all  over  the  civilized 
world.  Think  of  the  numerous  specialists,  each  of 
whom  is  devoting  a  lifetime  to  his  favorite  species 
with  an  eye  trained  to  see  all  the  possibilities  of 
that  kind  of  plant,  be  it  pansy,  Zinnia,  Aster.  Be¬ 
gonia.  sweet  pea.  rose  or  peony  !  It  is  rather  risky 
to  predict  tho  improvement  of  any  species  of  plant, 
hut  here  are  a  few:  Cosmos,  Petunia,  snapdragon, 
Begonia,  Hibiscus,  castor  bean. 
Of  edible  fruits  we  haven't  begun  to  secure  any 
that  have  no  defects.  Considering  their  importance 
much  remains  to  be  done  to  perfect  apples.  The 
experimenter  is  eager  for  quick  results:  he  grows 
a  thousand  or  more  seedling  strawberries  and  can 
repeat  the  operation  eight  or  ten  times  in  the  time 
in  which  it  takes  to  grow  one  lot  of 'apples,  and  the 
strawberries  require  little  room.  Few  try  to  grow 
new  sorts  of  apples. 
In  each  region  apples  should  be  suited  to  the  cli¬ 
mate.  bear  every  year  without  fail,  the  fruit  should 
hang  on  the  tree  during  strong  winds,  he  of  good 
size,  good  color,  and  excellent  quality.  The  writer 
confidently  predicts  that  during  the  next  25  years 
some  experiment  station  will  grow  and  test  many 
acres  of  seedling  apples  and  secure  something  better 
than  has  yet  been  grown,  especially  for  certain  regions. 
Peaches  in  some  cases  rival  nutmeg  melons  ill 
(Continued  on  page  397.) 
