The National Nurseryman. 
FOR GROWERS AND DEALERS IN NURSERY STOCK. 
Copyright, 1898, by the National Nurseryman Publishing Co. 
0L - VI. ROCHESTER, N. Y., JUNE, 1898. No. i 
THE STANDARD FRUITS. 
Little Systematic Work Has Been Attempted with Apples and 
Pears, Says an English Pomologist—The Bulk of Cultivated 
Apples Are Chance Seedlings, He Says—Examples. 
It is remarkable that in an age when hybridising and cross¬ 
breeding amongst plants have been so closely and successfully 
followed up by observant horticulturists, very little systematic 
work has been attempted with apples or pears says a writer in 
Gardners Chronicle , of London, England. It has been said 
by such veterans as John Laing that they regretted that they 
had not given attention to the improvements of our standard 
fruits in the earlier days, so that they might have had a chance 
of seeing the result of their labors. But there are many plants 
which take far longer than apples or pears before the operator 
can prove whether his efforts have yielded substantial 
improvements. It is quite possible to obtain fruit within five 
years of the time of sowing, and in some cases a less time than 
this will elapse before fruit is produced, though it takes longer 
to prove a variety thoroughly, especially those which do not 
appear satisfactory at first, as they occasionally improve 
greatly as the plants gain strength Seedling apples will make 
a growth of from r foot to 2 feet in a season, and if this be 
well matured by exposure to the sun it can be utilized as 
scions for grafting on Paradise stocks the following March. 
Under favorable circumstances, strong scions will produce a 
few fruits the second season from grafting, this being the 
fourth year from the seed, and I have even known them do so 
in the second year of the scion, but they are rarely strong 
enough to stand the strain, becoming stunted and barren for 
several seasons afterwards. 
CROSSING TWO VARIETIES. 
Very few apples of proved merit are known to have resulted 
from crossing two varieties—in fact, it is doubful if a dozen 
could be named of which the parentage has been known to the 
raiser and made public. Thomas Andrew Knight, the cele¬ 
brated president of the Royal Horticultural Society, early in 
the present century, was most systematic in his work, and he 
has left the records of most of his seedlings. The best known 
of these are the following : Bringewood Pippin, from Golden 
Pippin crossed with Golden Harvey ; Downton Pippin, from 
the Isle of Wight Pippin crossed with Golden Pippin ; and the 
Red and Yellow Ingestre from Orange Pippin crossed with 
Golden Pippin. Downton Pippin was at one time a fairly 
popular apple, and its name was frequently applied to other 
and less useful sorts in the shops, just as Ribston Pippin is 
now often employed to designate very different apples. A 
west of London fruiterer in a large business at one time made 
a practice of giving the name Downton Pippin to every small 
apple he was uncertain about. It is now rarely seen in gar¬ 
dens, orchards, or nurseries, though it is one of the few apples 
that is useful for dessert and cider too. 1 he Red and Yellow 
Ingestre are most interesting varieties from the fact that they 
originated from two seeds taken from the same cell in the fruit 
which resulted from the cross-fertilization recorded. The 
‘ Red ” variety is not so generally known as the “Yellow,” 
which is a valued occupant of numberless gardens, but the 
former is still included in the catalogues of a few nurserymen, 
especially in the west of England. 
CHANCE SEEDLINGS. 
As regards the bulk of apples in cultivation, some valuable, 
and many comparatively worthless, all are practically chance 
seedlings, the seed-parents of which are not even recorded. 
Taking as an example the celebrated variety first named, i. e., 
Ribston Pippin, one of the oldest apples known in England, it 
is recorded concerning it that “pips were brought from Rouen 
in 1688 and sown at Ribston House, Knaresborough,” and 
from one of these it is supposed the apple originated ; but even 
this is not a certainty, though the place of origin is beyond 
dispute. Another equally noted variety, though with a shorter 
history, Blenheim Orange Pippin, which was raised at Wood- 
stock in Oxfordshire, probably towards the close of the 
eighteenth century, is of unknown parentage, nor have we any 
definite record that any variety sufficiently like it to be of the 
same probable origin has ever been raised from an intentional 
cross. It is the opinion of some who have given attention to 
the matter in the district, that many seedlings were sub¬ 
sequently raised from the original tree, and that to these we 
owe the varied form of Blenheim seen in gardens or orchards. 
If this could be substantiated it would be a highly interesting 
fact, as indicating the possibility of a well-fixed variety per¬ 
petuating its characters in seedlings ; unfortunately, we have 
no evidence in the case of Blenheim Orange that this has since 
been accomplished, nor is it the case with the Ribston, for the 
only result known from this apple, i. e., Cox’s Orange Pippin, 
is distinct from its parent in nearly all its characters except its 
high quality. I have raised scores of seedlings from both 
these apples, and have never succeeded in procuring any 
approach to a reproduction of the parent qualities. Another 
very distinct apple, the Devonshire Quarrenden, has been 
cultivated in this country for over 200 years, yet nothing 
whatever is known of its origin, nor am I aware that any seed¬ 
lings have ever been raised partaking of its characters in a 
notable degree. It is true we now have the “Winter Quarren¬ 
den,” but though this was first shown as Stubbs’ Seedling, it is 
not stated that it was a seedling from Devenshire Quarrenden. 
RAPID RETROGRESSION. 
Although the flowers of apples are, as regards the majority 
of varieties, particularly adapted for cross-fertilisation, owing 
to the numerous stamens not all being mature at the same 
time, and to the position of the respective organs, and while 
this is undoubtedly effected in nearly every case, yet so great 
is the disturbance due apparently to long cultivation that the 
variability of the seedlings is remarkable. It is surprising, 
too, how rapid is the retrogression, for it is not uncommon in 
one batch of seedlings raised from seed yielded by the fruit of 
