One Of The Outstanding Features In 
The Greening Horticultural Exhibit 
An Actual Orchard Study That Reveals The Unfailing 
Principles of Bud Selection 
A plat or chart of a certain McIntosh orchard is 
one of the outstanding features in the famous Greening 
exhibit which has opened the eyes of thousands of 
State Experiment Station officials, prominent fruit 
growers and leading horticulturists. It illustrates one 
of the main objectives in all of Greening’s Bud Selec¬ 
tion work, i. e., better color. Every grower knows the 
importance of good color, but unless he has made a 
close, scientific study of the subject, the laws of color 
remain a mystery to him. 
The chart is based upon a block of McIntosh trees 
in the orchards of T. S. Smith one of the biggest fruit 
growers in Michigan, whose orchards are located at 
Fennville. 
The study covers a period of observation from 
1924 to 1929. In September, 1924, Roy E. Gibson, 
our field observer, spent two days in this block of trees, 
making color observations. He found that 61 trees 
produced only striped fruit and that the remaining 47 
trees produced solid red or blush fruit, with an occa¬ 
sional chimera or striped specimen here and there. 
Striped limb sports were located and marked in 5 trees, 
including the two pictured below. 
The trees and limbs have checked consistently each 
year. Twenty-one transitional trees have developed 
limb sports ranging in size from very small branches 
to the large one shown as Limb No. 2, Tree No. 5, 
which comprises half the tree. 
Limb No. 1, Tree No. 4 divides into branches “A’’ 
and “B.” Branch “B” is a striped color sport. Branch 
“A’' is transitional and is typical of other parts of the 
tree. In 5 years, beginning in 1924, this branch pro¬ 
duced 109 solid red, 4 chimeras and 8 striped apples. 
Color variations are not visible in the bark of apple 
twigs as they are in Green Bartlett and Yellow Fruited 
Bartlett pear twigs. In the case of apples the color 
to be inherited by the buds is revealed only by the 
color of the apple borne. 
The important point to remember is that all these 
McIntosh trees were “true to name.” They were sold 
and planted as McIntosh trees and, in accordance with 
previously acceptable nursery standards, were McIn¬ 
tosh trees. Needless to say, they were not the stabil¬ 
ized strain of McIntosh trees made possible through 
Greening Bud Selection. 
Branch “A” is transitional or mixed—in five years produced 109 solid 
red, 4 chimeras, and 8 striped apples 
- 12 
Limb No. 2 is a striped limb sport 
