1910. 
VARIATIONS IN YORK IMPERIAL 
APPLES. 
The accompanying illustrations. Figs. 
125 and 126, show extreme cases of varia¬ 
bility in normal apples picked from the 
same tree and of approximately the 
same weight. Further, they were picked 
from a tree which was propagated from 
scions selected to obviate this very thing 
—the tendency of the variety to bear 
irregularly-shaped fruit. Of all va¬ 
rieties of apples commercially grown, the 
York Imperial probably has "the great¬ 
est tendency in this direction. So great 
is this tendency and so great may be 
the variation that the question of box 
packing this variety, if it should ever be 
attempted, would prove a difficult propo¬ 
sition under the present standards. It 
is the one undesirable quality of this 
otherwise very excellent commercial va¬ 
riety f r the southern section of the 
the RURAL tStEW-YOUetCHtR. 
tioned. But in graftage, sex does not 
enter in and the problem is a different 
one. In seed selection we attempt to 
hx a characteristic or group of char¬ 
acteristics derived from two parents 
Enough sexual union. In bud selection 
we attempt to fix certain characteristics 
which are not the direct result of sexual 
union. Whether these non-sexual va¬ 
riations may or may not be transmitted 
(fixed) depends probably upon many 
circumstances, two important ones of 
which are: (1) Is this particular char¬ 
acteristic, of fruitfulness for example, 
caused by favorable external conditions 
such as food, moisture, etc., or (2) Is 
this tendency to fruitfulness due to some 
internal cellular structure peculiar to 
itself or which has been handed down 
through asexual propagation from some 
parent tree, branch or bud having this 
characteristic? If the former, we should 
expect no transference of the character- 
311 
VARIATION IN YORK IMPERIAL APPLE. Fig. 125. 
apple belt. So striking is this peculiar¬ 
ity that attempts were early made in the 
South Mountain region of Pennsylvania, 
where this variety originated, to secure 
by bud selection a race of trees which 
would bear more uniform fruit. 
The orchards of Tyson Brothers in 
Adams County, Pa., are notable ex¬ 
amples of consistent efforts by private 
parties to improve a strain of a variety 
of apples by bud selection. Twelve 
years ago they conceived the idea of a 
large commercial orchard of the variety 
named above, but recognized the desira¬ 
bility of having the fruit as uniform in 
shape as possible. They alreadv had a 
small bearing orchard of this "variety, 
and in this orchard two trees stood out 
prominently, not only on account of the 
uniformity of their fruit, but also for 
their unusual productiveness. It was 
decided that all future plantings should 
be propagated from these two individ¬ 
uals. Not being willing to trust this 
important work to other hands, they 
grew their own stock in their own 
nurseries and planted in all about 8,000 
trees. 
. This young orchard bore its first crop 
of consequence last Fall (1909), and the 
accompanying illustrations show the re¬ 
sult so far as uniformity of shape of 
fruit is concerned. As to fruitfulness, it 
is too early to determine the results. 
The particular tree from which these 
specimens were taken bore 2 l / 2 barrels 
of first class fruit last Fall when only 
nine years old. The orchard, however, 
has had the best of care, is ideally lo¬ 
cated, and whatever excess in aggregate 
yield this orchard may have shown over 
similar orchards from unselected buds 
'•'tic. If the latter it is reasonable to 
expect that the characteristic will be 
transmitted. 
. In the vegetable world the bud and 
not the plant is the unit. Every bud 
differs from every other bud and has 
the potential power of producing a plant 
similar to the one upon which it grew. 
Occasionally a bud or branch differs so 
much from its fellow that the variation 
js conspicuously apparent. The tree 
“sports," as the horticulturists say. 
Many new varieties arise in this way. 
The nectarine is simply a smooth¬ 
skinned peach, the result of a sporting 
bud. The King grape is a bud sport of 
th e Concord. Both reproduce their kind 
when propagated by budding or from 
cuttings. If then, the more fruitful tree 
is the result of a bud variation amount¬ 
ing to a sport or mutant, we may expect 
it to transmit that characteristic to its 
asexual posterity, but if it is due to ex¬ 
ternal influences only, then it cannot be 
expected to be transmitted. 
In the case mentioned above, viz., the 
failure to transmit the characteristic of 
uniform shape, it is evident that this ten¬ 
dency to non-uniformity is inherent in 
the \aiiety. Such tendencies are aug¬ 
mented, as was early pointed out by 
Darwin, by excess of food supply. It is 
quite possible then that the trees from 
which these orchards were propagated, 
not being so well cared for or because 
of sonic other reason, received a less 
bountiful supply of food material and, 
though capable of bearing large crops of 
fruit, the tendency to irregularity of the 
individual fruits was less stimulated than 
m the younger, highly fed trees. In 
other words, regular shaped fruit in 
DIFFERENT SHAPES—ALL FROM SAME BUD. Fig. 126. 
may or may not have been due to su¬ 
perior orchard management. It is true, 
lowever, that while the majority of the 
trees bore heavily there was great varia- 
tion in this tendency with a considerable 
sprinkling of trees, under seemingly 
identical conditions, which bore little or 
no fruit. It will take a series of sea¬ 
sons to determine what advantage, if 
an - v ’ vvas gained so far as fruitfulness is 
concerned, and since there are no check 
oichards of unselected trees under iden¬ 
tical conditions, it can never be accur¬ 
ately estimated. So far as uniformity of 
, i u it is concerned the selection seems to 
have been absolutely without avail. 
isolated observations of this kind do 
Ji"t prove absolutely the unreliability of 
hud selection as a means of improving 
plants. In fact, there are records which 
seem to prove that it is not without 
beneficial results and is growing in 
, WI ? y then these differences? 
oeed selection, has been practiced for 
juries and its effect in fixing profit¬ 
able and productive strains is unques- 
this instance was the result of external 
conditions rather than an inherent ten¬ 
dency. 
The failure of bud selection in many 
instances is no doubt due to the fact 
that too little attention is given the 
selection of the parent and its relation 
to its environment. That one Baldwin 
tree bears a large, highly-colored apple 
and another bears a small, dull-colored 
one may or may not be the result of a 
difference in external conditions, such as 
food supply, light, moisture, etc., even 
in the same orchard. 1 he only certain 
way to determine this is by testing. If 
the desired characteristics are transmit¬ 
ted to a number of offspring grown 
under varying conditions, then it is safe 
to conclude that they will always be. 
It not, bud selection from that tree is 
useless. In practice, however, bud selec¬ 
tion should not be abandoned as a 
means of improving varieties. It can 
do no harm, and may result in much 
g0 ° d - _ „ W. J. WRIGHT. 
Penn. State College. 
On Free Trial 
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SPRAY 
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— 28 Jay St., Recheater, N. Y. 
Auto-Sprays 
Scaie-Glean 
Kills Scale 
Scale-Clean is the best and 
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water. Recommended by prom¬ 
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r„.,„„n, 14 UI 4 > w cts - P er K allon in barrel lots. 
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“Equal to the Best and Better than the 
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SCALIME 
Stands at the head of Li me and Sulphur solutions Re¬ 
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9 N. High Street, 
CHEMICAL CO., 
Wost Chester, Pa* 
JARVIS SPRAYING COMPOUND 
IS THE CHEAPEST AMD BEST. IT HAS HO SUPERIOR. 
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Buy direct from the manufacturer and save mnn.v Spray¬ 
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u INTELLIGENT SPRAYING 
66 
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SCALECIDE” 
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Bordeaux Pulp 
Bordeaux-Lead mixture 
Lime-Sulphur Solution 
Sulphur 
Fertilizers 
Pruning shears, knives, 
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Hudson Terminal Building 
50 CHURCH STREET, NEW YORK 
Factory; LITTLE FALLS, NEW JERSEY 
1 
