NORTHERN PLANT NOVELTIES FOR 1958 
! :x MAR 2 11931 
Dr. N. E. Hansen, Department of Horticulture, State College i 0. B. Department of Agr:i 
Brookings, South Dakota, February 5, 1958 . i- . -• 
* * * 
This department does not conduct a commercial nursery, but propagates and distri¬ 
butes new varieties originated in this department or imported from similar climates 
of the Old World. Many acres of seedling fruits have been grown since the work was 
started by the writer in 1895. The improvement in size and quality of each plant gen¬ 
eration is greater year by year. Hybridization and selection are the main methods of 
improvement. The work has been honored by four medals and by extensive propagation 
and planting of many of the new varieties. The medals are: The George Robert White 
gold medal of honor for ’’eminent service in horticulture" by the Massachusetts Horti¬ 
cultural Society, 1917; the Marshall P. Wilder silver medal by the American Pomologi- 
cal Society for new fruits, 1929; gold medal for public service by Cosmopolitan club, 
Sioux Falls, 1955; A. P. Stevenson gold medal for new fruits by the Manitoba Horticul¬ 
tural Society, 1955. 
A host of new seedling fruits and roses are coming on, which will be sent out as 
soon as they are deemed to be up to standard. 
Some of the material in this list is offered for distribution to plant breeders 
to help in the work of improving hardy fruits and roses elsewhere. 
New varieties offered for the first time are 22 apples; 1 plum; 1 pear; 1 cherry; 
5 golden currants; 4 roses; total 34. 
Personal Note: June 30, 1937, I completed forty-two years of service as head of 
the Department of Horticulture, at South Dakota State College, and becajne Emeritus 
Professor of Horticulture in charge of research experiments in breeding of hardy 
fruits and roses. 
North and South Travel : Early in spring of 1937, I began work in Arkansas and 
worked north with the apple blossoms through Missouri, Iowa and Nebraska; Hot Springs, 
Sioux Falls, Brookings and Watertown, South Dakota, clear north to Morden and Winni¬ 
peg, Manitoba. In the autumn I went to Manitoba to gather the fruits. Thousands of 
flowers were cross-pollinated and much hybridized seed was obtained. This is an ex¬ 
tension of the movable tub orchard method that I began in 1897 and which has been 
widely adopted in the United States and foreign countries. It makes combinations 
possible not otherwise possible. 
Terms: The money received from the sale of plants makes it possible to do the 
work on a larger scale than would otherwise be possible. Those who have followed the 
progress of the work for many years know the importance of ordering promptly, as soon 
as this list is received, as the supply of plants is limited. Terms are cash with 
order. No credit except to the Government Experiment Stations. For South Dakota 
orders add three per cent to the above prices for State Retail Tax. 
Red Apples with Red Flowers and Red Flesh 
Apples with red flowers, skin and flesh, are a new departure, and will be useful 
both as an ornamental tree on the lawn and for fancy fruit in the orchard. The fruit 
is red and is good for red sauce and red jelly. 
The first of my Redfleshed apples was the Hopa crab, now a popular ornamental 
tree. Next came the Redflesh crab, introduced in 1928 and now propagated by mary 
nurserymen* The fruit of Redflesh is about the size of Whitney, brilliant solid red 
skin and red flesh; excellent for sauce and jelly. 
I have been working in this line for many years, especially after my second tour 
of agricultural exploration to Russia when I met Mr. Niedzwetzky himself at Vernoe, 
now called Alma Ata in northeast Turkestan, near the Chinese border. Mr. Niedzwetzky, 
an official in government service, found this remarkable type of apple in the Tian 
Shan Mountains that separate Russian Turkestan and western China. This type was named 
in his honor Pyrus Mr lus Niedzwetzkyana after he sent it to Europe. In America, the 
accepted common name now is the Redvein Crab. 
A large number of Redvein crab hybrids with standard apples are now coming on at 
this Station. These are not old enough to bear fruit but the young wood is red undei 
the knife, and the young leaves are tinted with red, which previous experience indi¬ 
cates that the fruit will be red inside and out, and that the flowers will be red. 
Nineteen of these new seedlings have been selected end propagated for further trial; 
the best of these will be named as soon as fruited and deemed worthy. 
Sweet Tomatoes: A Report of Progress 
Many people add sugar when eating sliced tomatoes to tone down the acidity and 
improve the quality. It would be desirable to develop special dessert tomatoes that 
would not need sugar. This thought came to me in a tour to western Europe in 1930 
when I noticed that the tomato occupied an honored place as a table fruit as well as 
a vegetable. I thought it quite possible to take out most or all of the acid and 
make it really a sweet dessert fruit. About 400 varieties were collected from all 
parts of the world for a preliminary test. The test began in 1932. The mildest fla¬ 
vored tomato according to my taste was the Primrose Gage, of the Yellow Peach type, 
found among the ancient Dravidians of southern India. When this pollen is used on 
Yellow Oxheart, the result is a long peach-skin broadly conical yellow tomato, a new 
type, t The work of fixing this type is not complete, but it should not take long with 
two crops a year by aid of the greenhouse. 
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