104 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
OISE ISURSERYMAIS’S WORK . 
Valuable Experiments in Plant Breeding! Carried on During Thirty 
Years by Charles G. Patten, Charles City, la _ Professor 
Craig Cites Instances, Giving Credit Where It Is Richly 
Deserved-Practical Results From the System¬ 
atic Crossing of Apples and Plums. 
Professor John Craig has removed from the position of head 
of the horticultural department of the State college at Ames, la., 
to the horticultural department at Cornell University, Ithaca, 
N. Y. One of his last contributions to the Central States press 
is an article in the Iowa State Register which is an appreciation 
of what the well-known nurseryman, Charles G. Patten, Charles 
City, la., has done and is doing for horticulture. He says : 
“ The state of Iowa holds a very enviable position in the 
horticulture of this northern and western part of fruit growing 
America, in regard to the progress and advancement it has 
made in ameliorating the native fruits and producing varieties 
better adapted to our prairie conditions than those brought in 
by the early settlers. A glance through the volumes of the 
State Horticultural Society’s report will show that work was 
commenced in this line as far back as thirty years ago. I refer 
now, not to hap-hazard seedling production but systematic and 
well directed efforts, having for their purpose the production 
of apples and plums with characteristics that would tend to 
make them valuable for this climate. 
“ During the past ten years the writer has been interested in 
visiting some of the pioneer horticultural workers in this line 
throughout the state. These visits have greatly impressed 
him, because of the vast amount of work done and the really 
substantial progress which has been made. Another feature 
worthy of note lies in the fact that thus far, very little has been 
given to the public with reference to the efforts of those indi¬ 
vidual workers in different parts of the state. They have 
thought out their lines of proposed investigation, have carried 
these projected ideas into effect without state appropriation, 
without much encouragement either at home or abroad, and 
often at considerable financial loss and great personal 
inconvenience. 
“I can not refrain from drawing attention to the systematic 
experiments which have been carried on in this line for a period 
of thirty years by C. G. Patten, of Charles City, Iowa. A care¬ 
ful examination of his experimental grounds raised the char¬ 
acter of this work in my estimation very considerably. Many 
fruit growers plant seeds in a hap-hazard way, and hope for 
desirable results. Mr. Patten’s work has not in any sense 
been hap-hazard and the results which he has secured are not 
only valuable pomologically, but scientifically, because the 
facts relating to the percentage of the newly produced varieties 
have been carefully recorded. 
“ Mr. Patten’s experimental grounds, where most of his 
plant breeding experiments are carried on, cover an area of 
six or seven acres. In this area are to be found a wonderful 
number of interesting object lessons. Here one may find the 
product of crosses and hybrids planted in regular series, as for 
instance hybrids with the Brier Sweet crab. More than a 
dozen of these crossed with Perry Russet are fruiting and in 
the product is astonishing variation. We have, beginning at 
the less valuable, an almost exact reproduction of the female 
parent Brier Sweet. Following this are others grading in size 
trom a large Whitney to a good sized Plumb Cider. In most 
of these the crab characteristics are present; that is to say, the 
breaking and crisp quality of flavor are there, and sometimes 
the long and slender stem, but in a few cases the seedlings 
seem to have entirely broken away from the crab and are 
apples in all characteristics of flesh and form. The valuable 
thing about this line of work is that these trees are apparently 
hardy and perfectly free of blight. 
“Another interesting series are crosses between Fameuse or 
Snow and Duchess. These crosses show a great deal of varia¬ 
tion. In one case a valuable apple has been secured. It is 
almost an exact repetition of the Fameuse, but the tree at 
Charles City where the climatic conditions are decidedly try¬ 
ing, appears to be perfectly hardy. Mr. Patten is propagating 
this variety, and is introducing it under the name of Brilliant. 
Combinations between Perry Russet and Northern Spy have 
been effected, which give promise of good things to come. 
Patten Greening and a cross between Duchess and Rhode 
Island Greening now introduced, is making a name for itself 
over northern Iowa. Probably no one in the West has grown 
more seedlings of the Duchess than has Mr. Patten. Some 
curious results have been obtained in this connection. It has 
generally been supposed that Duchess is one of those fixed 
types which would invariably impress the offspring with its 
own characteristics, but a study of the fruiting seedlings on 
Mr. Patten’s grounds will show that this belief is erroneous. 
It is true that some of them bear Duchess characteristics in 
color and in quality of flesh, but it is hardly possible to per¬ 
ceive in the majority of the Duchess seedlings any traces of 
the Duchess whatever. Among the hundreds of hybrids 
fruited by Mr. Patten, there are a number he could not find it 
in his heart to throw away, and yet which had in them defects 
which prevented him from conscientiously offering them to the 
public as improvements over the old varieties. Many of these, 
however, are being grown profitably at Charles City, and are 
being marketed locally. This success raises the question as 
to whether it would pay fruit growers in new countries best to 
start their orchards in this way rather than purchasing named 
and grafted varieties of uncertain adaptability from the East. 
“ In the matter of plums the writer was able to test, in fact 
the amount of testing to be done far exceeded his capacity in 
that direction, a large number of seedling varieties. The first 
impression that one receives is the infinite possibilities of im¬ 
proving the native plum, and the second thought which comes 
to one is the ease with which the different types appear to 
interbreed. Mr. Patten is fruiting this year at least a dozen 
varieties which appear to equal anything in the named list of 
this season, that we have at the present time. Yet these will 
not be introduced, but the seed of the best varieties might be 
secured, to be saved and planted. In this way the plum of 
the future will be produced. The types are being rapidly 
broken by new combinations being effected, and marvelous 
results are being secured. The Rockford plum introduced by 
Mr. Patten some years ago appears in a very favorable light as 
seen growing on his grounds. It has firmness and a sugary 
quality of flesh that is possessed by no other American plum 
so far as I know. Rockford would be a good variety to breed 
from, and Mr. Patten is pursuing his plum experiments with 
this thought in mind. 
“ This is but a brief summary of the work Mr. Patten has 
in hand, and it is given for the purpose of drawing attention 
to painstaking and conscientious effort for the purpose of 
giving credit where it is richly deserved.’’ 
