455 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
The P romise of Better Fruits 
RIVATE PLANT BREEDERS.—What lias 
become of the amateur plant breeder, the 
gardener bent on originating new varieties 
of fruit, flowers and vegetables? With the 
exception of several meritorious strawber- 
_ ries. a new kind of rose, such as the 
climbing American Beauty, and a number of new 
varieties of flowers and vegetables, few outstanding 
plant creations have come to light within recent 
years due to the efforts of individuals not connected 
with governmental institutions. Some varieties of 
fruits, like the Delicious apple, have gained wide 
popularity in the past two decades, but these are 
discoveries and not the result of any 
direct effort. 
THE DELICIOUS APPLE. — The 
history of the Delicious apple is typi¬ 
cal of the way most of our varieties of 
fruits and flowers have originated. A 
farmer in Iowa noticed an unusual tree 
in his orchard that bore good crops of 
apples that were exceptionally fine in 
appearance and quality, and unlike 
any variety he was familiar with. 
Not knowing he had the only tree of its 
kind in the world he made no attempt 
to propagate from it at first. In time 
the fruit from this tree attracted un¬ 
usual attention and the variety is now 
grown in nearly every apple district. 
Its characteristic sheep’s nose is a fa¬ 
miliar sight on every fruit stand. This 
apple has done more than any other 
variety to redeem the reputation the 
Northwest apple growers were havivg 
for growing apples good to look at but 
not so good to eat. IIow the original 
tree came to be in the Iowa orchard 
no one knows. The most probable as¬ 
sumption is that it grew from a seed¬ 
ling rootstock upon which the graft 
failed to take. Most of our cultivated 
fruits and flowers are chance seedlings 
—nature's children from the highways 
and byways discovered and made use¬ 
ful to all of us by some one whose 
name is now forgotten. Our school 
histories teach the lives of the world's 
greatest scoundrels, but do not men¬ 
tion the name of the originator of the 
Baldwin apple or the Green Mountain 
potato, just as they celebrate “the 
battlefields whereon we meet our 
death, but scorn to speak of the plowed 
fields whereby we thrive.” 
PETER M. GIDEON’S WORK.—In 
the past many fine varieties have been 
the result of a direct effort to produce 
better plants by farmers, fruit grow¬ 
ers. and gardeners who took time for 
something more than planting, culti¬ 
vating and harvesting. The Wealthy 
apple was one among thousands of 
seeds planted by Peter M. Gideon in 
I860 for the purpose of securing an 
apple that would withstand the severe 
the north central plains. 
limit. Obviously we cannot expect a sugar beet 
that is all sugar nor a cow to give milk that is all 
cream. To get hardiness and keeping qualities we 
must sacrifice something in tenderness. 
IDAHO AND IOWA APPLES.—The Idaho Sta¬ 
tion has crossed the Ben Davis with another good 
variety, the Wagener and from this union has 
come an apple that is a month earlier than Wagener 
and has a season extending beyond that widely 
grown variety. The new Ames apple from the Iowa 
Station has a “good red color, is vigorous and hardy, 
of excellent quality, productive and has good keep¬ 
ing qualities." Almost everything one could ask. 
‘History celebrates the battlefields whereon we meet our death, but scorns 
of the plowed fields whereby we thrive.”— .T. Henri Fabre. 
to speak 
The Wealthy Apple—-A lasting memorial to Peter M. Gideon 
Winter of 
It does that, and more, 
because it. is widely planted on account of its color, 
flavor and early bearing. It is truly well named 
and a stone monument at Excelsior, Minn., shows 
the appreciation of American fruit growers. 
POTATO BREEDING.—Many famous potatoes 
such as the Early Rose. Early Ohio. Carman, Rural 
New-Yorker and the Burbank were the result of 
seed saved and planted for the purpose of originat¬ 
ing new and better varieties. All of them originated 
over 30 years ago. 
DEFINITE WORK IN BREEDING.—What new 
varieties of real merit, introduced within recent 
years, are the result of a definite plant breeding 
undertaking? Fruit growers have long dreamed 
of an apple having the hardiness, productiveness 
and keeping qualities of a Ben Davis, together with 
Uie flavor, sweetness and tenderness of a McIntosh. 
The Cortland apple, developed at the Geneva Sta¬ 
tion by U. P. Hedrick and his associates, is the 
result of the cross-pollination of these two varieties, 
and comes as nea'r as could be expected to uniting 
the good qualities of the famous “Ben” and the 
delicious “Mac.” A complete recombination of all 
the good qualities of both parents is probably im¬ 
possible. There is such a thing as a physiological 
Pet s hope someone will soon try it here in tin* 
East and see if it does as well for us. 
AN OREGON CHERRY.—The Oregon Station has 
originated a new cherry which is a heavy bearer 
and free from gummosis. Their new prune variety 
has a higher sugar content than any variety tested. 
Someone should tell the California prune growers 
about it. 
TEXAS BERRIES.—A raspberry-dewberry cross 
called the Ness berry, in honor of its originator. 
Helge Ness of the Texas Experiment Station, prom¬ 
ises to give a berry similar to the Loganberry that 
will not lie restricted to the Pacific Coast. 
AN IMPROVED HIGH-BUSII CRANBERRY. — 
Do you live in the white pine country where the 
blister rust makes it necessary to grub out all the 
currants and gooseberries: If so you will Ik* in¬ 
terested to know that the New Hampshire Station 
is putting out a liigh-busli cranberry to grow in their 
stead. 
ANOTHER VAN FLEET ROSE.—Those who 
have climbing Rambler and Dorothy Perkins roses 
which go white with mildew each year ought to 
see the new Van Fleet climbing rose. Its beautiful 
dark, glossy green foliage is entirely free from mil¬ 
dew with us. Its flowers are real roses, white turn¬ 
ing to a delicate pink. This worthy flower is a 
lasting memorial to Dr. Walter Van Fleet, formerly 
associate editor of The R. N. Y., and for many 
years with the U. S. Department of Agriculture, 
who originated many other valuable plants. 
CULTIVATED BLUEBERRIES. —The horticul¬ 
tural magazines are now carrying many advertise¬ 
ments of blueberry plants. To judge from the pic¬ 
tures no one will longer be Content to pick the wild 
berries when such big ones can be grown almost 
anywhere in the East if the soil is acid or made 
so. Credit for cultivated blueberries is due prin¬ 
cipally to I'. V. Coville of the U. S. Department of 
Agriculture, who has been working with these plants 
for many years, originating varieties 
and finding out the best methods of 
culture. 
GOVERNMENT AID.—The Office of 
Foreign Seed and Plant Introduction 
of the Lk S. Department of Agricul¬ 
ture is performing a very valuable ser¬ 
vice in scouring the whole world for 
new plants of value. Of particular in¬ 
terest to Northern growers is the an¬ 
nouncement of a pear from Spain, 
known there as Favorita, that is in¬ 
distinguishable from Clapp’s Favorite 
in fruit but unlike that variety is ap¬ 
parently highly immune to fire blight. 
One would suspect from its name that 
it had been introduced from here into 
Spain at some previous time but why 
its sojourn in the land of the bull¬ 
fighters should make it resistant to 
fire blight is a puzzle. It is now being 
tested in many parts of the country, 
and if its resistance proves out it will 
be a most valuable find. 
EDIBLE C'ANNA.—A C’anna with 
edible roots has also been brought in 
from Hawaii and is being distributed 
for trial purposes. It is called Queens¬ 
land arrowroot, can be cooked and 
used like potatoes, but is grown in 
Australia as a source of starch in¬ 
stead of arrowroot because it is more 
productive. The tops of the plants 
make edible forage for live stock. 
Such a plant would be easier to cul¬ 
tivate and keep free from weeds than 
potatoes and is certainly worth trying. 
/IMPROVED GRAINS.—These are 
some of the most outstanding recent 
contributions from the professional 
plant breeders. But most of the efforts 
of the State institutions are directed 
to the improvement of the more im¬ 
portant crop plants such as corn, 
wheat, cotton and forage plants. 
Marquis wheat, originated by Charles 
Saunders of the Central Experiment 
Station in Canada, is now grown on 
fifteen million acres and is the greatest 
plant breeding achievement in point of 
money value on record. Kan red wheat, 
due principally to II. F. Roberts of the 
Kansas Station, is grown on nearly as large an area 
and yields an average of four bushels more than 
the next best variety in the main Winter wheat 
district. 
WORK BY AMATEURS.—'Wihat have the ama¬ 
teur gardeners, fruit growers, seedsmen and nursery¬ 
men been doing in the past quarter of a century? 
A number of fine strawberries have been put out 
by Howard and others. Yellow varieties of sweet 
corn we have by the score. Many of these come 
'cry close to having the specifications claimed for 
ihem quality of Golden Bantam with greater yield 
and later maturity. Personally I don’t think w e 
should expect Golden Bantam quality in a large- 
eared. productive variety. High quality goods come 
in small packages. But yellow, once a despised 
color because it looked like field corn fed to animals, 
is now the badge of honor among sweet corn. 
NEW FLOWERS.—Beautiful creations in Dahlias, 
Gladioli, roses and many other flowers are being 
brought out each year, too numerous to mention all 
and impossible to pick out a few of the best. But 
in the best of tree fruits very few really good new 
varieties have been put out in recent years by 
private enterprise, and these that have, are chance 
discoveries rather than the result of a direct efi'ort. 
Hus is unfortunate because it is to the non-profes- 
