1912. 
THE RURAt NEW-YORKER 
1227 
Ruralisms 
THE BREEDING OF APPLES. 
Although the apple is plainly the most 
important fruit grown in temperate cli¬ 
mates, very little systematic breeding 
work appears to have been done with 
it. Seedlings were fruited by the thou¬ 
sand in the pioneer days of orcharding, 
and valuable selections made from the 
resulting varieties, but practically noth¬ 
ing was known of their parentage, and 
little addition was made to our meager 
knowledge of the inheritance tendencies 
of our chief of orchard fruits. 
Of the thousand or more apple varie¬ 
ties described in American pomological 
works the seed and pollen parent of but 
one, the Ontario, appears to be accu¬ 
rately known. This was an outcome of 
pollinating Northern Spy by Wagener, 
and is a decidedly meritorious acquisi¬ 
tion. The seed parents of 50 odd varie¬ 
ties are claimed to be known with greater 
or less certainty, but the pollen parent¬ 
age is entirely problematical. Of the 
remaining great host nothing is known 
of their origin save the fact that with 
the exception of three or four “bud 
sports” or mutations they were seed¬ 
lings of such apparent local excellence 
that propagation and dissemination ap¬ 
peared desirable. 
The workers of the Geneva, N. Y., 
Experiment Station, however, in 1898 
and 1899 made a series of guarded 
cross pollinations between such standard 
varieties as Esopus (Spitzenburg), New¬ 
town, Ben Davis, Jonathan, McIntosh, 
Lawver, Northern Spy, Rome, Sutton 
and others, resulting in 148 cross-bred 
seedlings of known parentage on both 
sides, representing 11 combinations of 
the varieties used. Of this pedigree 
progeny 125 trees have fruited, some for 
several successive years, and Profs. U. 
P. Hedrick and R. Wellington give in¬ 
terestingly their characteristics in the 
recently issued Station Bulletin No. 350. 
It appears the mistake was made in 1901 
of top-working their seedlings to hasten 
fruiting on bearing trees in a variety 
orchard nearby. Fruits were had as 
early as 1904 from some of the more 
precocious crosses, but the net results 
of this application of the “nurse plant” 
method of inducing early maturity were 
fai from satisfactory, as practically 
nothing could be learned of the charac¬ 
ters of the new varieties—information 
cf the highest importance in estimating 
the value of a novelty, while the diffi¬ 
culties of securing a second generation 
from known self-pollinated seeds were 
gieatly augumented. The seedlings were 
accordingly transplanted from the 
nursery row in 1906 for trial fruiting 
in a test orchard, setting them eight feet 
apart each way, and given ordinary at¬ 
tention to the present season. 
From the published analysis of these 
crosses, which is quite elaborate from 
the Mendelian standpoint, it is appar¬ 
ent there is a strong tendency to re¬ 
produce the characters of the immediate 
parents and practically none of the re¬ 
version on “throwing back” to wild or 
worthless ancestors that we have been 
taught to believe is inherent in apple 
seedlings. Vigor of tree growth and 
size of fruit, as compared with the 
parents, were in most instances in¬ 
creased, while satisfactory color com¬ 
binations were frequent, and good and 
even high quality of flesh prevailed in 
the progeny, where one or both parents 
possessed that particularly desirable 
feature. Few of the crosses, in the 
estimation of the authors, fell below the 
average of cultivated apples in size 
and handsome appearance of fruit, and 
in tree characteristics that make varie¬ 
ties desirable. Fourteen or more are 
deemed worthy of propagation and 
further critical study. This is a most 
hopeful outcome of what is in reality a 
very limited test of the possibilities of 
tree-fruit breeding. The main conclu¬ 
sion to be drawn is that cultivated ap¬ 
ples, being largely self-sterile in bloom, 
accept pollen from inferior fruiting va¬ 
rieties that produce it abundantly. When 
seedlings are grown, even from varieties 
of the highest excellence under condi- 
t’ons of ordinary natural pollination, the 
results are generally disappointing, it is 
to be inferred, from the dominance of 
the inferior pollen parent. With con¬ 
trolled pollen applications, however, and. 
discernment in mating varieties, it would 
appear that systematic apple breeding is 
ar least as promising as other forms of 
horticultural amelioration. The factors 
of time and expense incurred in carry¬ 
ing the crosses from seed plot to crop¬ 
ping age are so great as to preclude 
much amateur work of this kind. Such 
projects belong, of right, to the State 
and national experiment farms, and 
should be carried out on the most gen¬ 
erous scale. The Geneva Station has 
blazed the way to material improvement 
of the best of all fruits, and it is to be 
hoped will keep on in the good work. 
The bulletin should be widely read by 
all interested in apple development, v. 
QUESTIONS ABOUT NUTS. 
11 . K. F. Ellerson, Va .—-Can you give 
me any information regarding filberts, or 
hazelnuts? Is there any market for the 
nuts, and if so, at what price? How 
long before they come into bearing? Would 
it be advisable to plant same in newly 
cleared land; land is hilly but very fertile? 
I am aso thinking of planting Persian wal¬ 
nuts, butternuts, and shell-bark hickorynuts, 
and any information you can give me in 
regard to the planting and cultivation of 
same will he greatly appreciated. 
Ans. —The culture of the European 
hazels or filberts in America is confined 
almost entirely to the Pacific Coast, be¬ 
cause of the fungus disease that affects 
them in the other parts of the country, 
and there seems to be no way to com¬ 
bat it. However, I have some bushes in 
northern Michigan and a few other 
places that were doing quite well. What 
they would do in Virginia is uncertain, 
but in Delaware I know they are badly af¬ 
fected. The American hazels seem to be 
free from this trouble and flourish al¬ 
most everywhere that they grow natu¬ 
rally or are planted in good soil. In 
some regions they are very abundant in 
the wild state and the nuts are gathered 
ii: large quantities and eaten at home 
and sold to some extent in the markets. 
They bring about one dollar per gallon, 
but there is no established trade price 
as for the true filberts or European 
hazelnuts, which sell at fully twice this 
price. But there are choice varieties of 
our native hazels which are well worthy 
of being taken from the wild state and 
cultivated, and this will be done in due 
time and probably hybrids will be grown 
which will have the size of the foreign 
kinds and the resistance to fungus blight 
and the hardiness of our own species. 
This is something that has not yet been 
attempted, so far as I know, and could 
and should be done by our experiment 
station workers or others who have op¬ 
portunities. 
There is no doubt of the success of 
the .Persian walnut in Virginia if the 
hardier and self-fertile varieties are 
planted in good soil. The same is true 
of the hickorynut, and while there are 
no grafted or budded trees to be bought 
from the nurseries now, this will not 
always be so. The walnut trees are ob¬ 
tainable in a limited way, and the valu¬ 
able hickories will be the same after a 
time, for there are nurserymen who are 
working in this direction. I hqve little 
Shagbark hickory nuts now on my desk 
that are well worthy of extensive propa¬ 
gation by artificial means, and there are 
others equally good or better. One of 
the best of these is the Hales, which has 
long been known, and fine grafted trees 
of it are now growing at Ridgewood, 
N. J., on the premises of Mr. Henry 
Hales, after whom it was named. The 
improvement of the butternut, or most 
Northern type of the walnut, has not 
yet been begun, but it is worthy and 
capable of such treatments. 
H. E. VAN DEMAN. 
The Akin Apple. 
F. D. W., Washington, Va .—Can you tell 
anything about the Akin apple? I have 
three trees which are said to be the Akin, 
and they have proved very profitable. 
Ans. —Akin is one of the lately intro¬ 
duced apples that has hardly had time 
to become known in the markets, but so 
far as it is known it is well liked by 
both dealers and consumers. It is of 
fair size, very red and attractive in 
color, and of fine texture and flavor. 
It is one of the coming Winter apples 
and deserves to be planted far more 
than is the case at present. I recently 
saw_ and judged several exhibits of this 
variety at the Indiana Apple Show, and 
they were very creditable beside those 
of Jonathan and other high-class apples. 
The tree is generally well spoken of by 
those who are growing it. 
H. E. VAN DEMAN. 
Between Friends — 
A KODAK 
Of all the gifts that fit the Christ¬ 
mas day, none so timely as the one 
that provides the means for keeping 
a picture story of that day—a Kodak. 
EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY, 
your dealers or by mail . 387 State St., ROCHESTER, N. Y. 
CnDAY W ® Make 
5rn*»! or s tc;s:; dy 
Bucket, Barrel, 4-Row Potato Sprayers, 
Power Orchard Rigs, etc. 
There’s a field sprayer for every need, pro¬ 
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THIS EMPIRE KING 
leads everything of its kind. Throws 
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clogging, strainers are brushed and 
1 kept clean and liquid is thoroughly 
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Corrosion is impossible. Write for di¬ 
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entiresprayerline. Wehavethe sprayer 
to meet your exact wants. Address 
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You Can Pay Moro But You Cannot Buy Bettor Than 
O^ss-SCALE KILLER 
^'KEYlRANDml (SOLUBLE OIL) 
Easily Applied—Simply Mix With Water and Spray 
Harrels (50 gal.)... $15.00 %-bbl. (30 gal.)... $9.90 
10-gal. cau ami case. 3.50 5-gal. can and case.. 2.00 
P. o. b. New York 
INTERSTATE CHEMICAL CO. 
12 BAYVIEW AVE. JERSEY CITY, N. J. 
Write for “Practical Spraying”—Heat book on spraying. 
Nn MORP If you want a cheap, simple, absc 
nu itiUKt lutely sure way to keep Ever 
RABBITS Rabbit and Every Borer out o 
your orchard, paint your tree 
vith Sulfocide” the new concentrated sulphu 
compound. Simple to prepare. Cheaply and easil 
applied. One application will last for six month; 
Absolutely certain. “Sulfocide” will solve th 
rabbit problem. Write Today for book- 
let, “ Sulfocide— Sure Protection NO MORE 
from Rabbits and Borers.” Address B. BORERS 
G. Pratt Co., 50 Church St., N.Y.City. 
creases the value. 
Earliest and easiest worker 
Carries off surplus watei 
;ne 
TILE DRAINED LAND IS MORE PRODUCTIVE . . 
a- 4 , admits air to the soil, j 
Acres of swampy land reclaimed and made ferti 
V requirement. We also make Sew 
ic Side Walk Tile, etc. Wr 
, gg Third Ave., Albany, N. 
SEE HIM FIRSTI 
Before the fertilizer salesman arrives, go to your dealer and explain to him that 
you will not buy 2 per cent, goods that contain only 40 pounds of Potash 
per ton. Show him that modern, profitable fertilizers contain from 
5 to 10 per cent. Potash, and that the composition of crops and the 
effect of crops on soils require that 
the per cent, of Potash should be 
increased until it. is as great as, or 
greater than, the per cent, of Phos¬ 
phoric Acid in the fertilizer. It is this grade of goods that pays you 
and your dealer best. The quantity and quality 
of the crops are better and the actual plant food 
costs less per pound. 
Write us for Free Book with 
Profitable Formulas 
V s 
?/ 
POTASH 
We will sell you Potash Salt 
in any quantity from 200 pounds 
Write for prices. 
GERMAN KALI WORKS, fnc. 
/ A 42 Broadway, New York 
Monadnock Block 
Chicago, III. 
Bank & Trust Bldg. 
Savannah, 61.1 
Whitney Bank Bldg. 
New Orleans, La, 
Y 
