THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
THE TEACHING 
OF FORESTRY. 
1 
suggesting that we may sometimes secure forms from the seed 
that arc so similar to the parent as to be almost indistinguishable. 
We are glad to note that there is a movement on the part of 
certain nurserymen, to keep account of these improvements on 
standard varieties. Let us bear in mind, that when one of 
these improvements is multiplied by grafting and budding, that 
we are not breeding a variety but merely reproducing it in 
quantity for a waiting and let us hope, an appreciative public. 
We would ask nurserymen who have observed such varia¬ 
tions and have noted their history or know of any that should 
be investigated, to advise Mr. C. A. Rogers of the Department 
of Horticulture, Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y. Mr. Rogers 
is making a special study of the subject. 
There is no reason at the present time, why a student who 
wishes to secure a training in forestry so that he may become a 
forest engineer, superintendent of a forest, or manager of a wood 
lot, should not suceeed in obtaining it. In¬ 
struction is offered by the Yale Forest 
School, New Haven, Conn.; the Biltmore 
Forest School, Asheville, N. C.; the Massa¬ 
chusetts Agricultural College, University 
of Michigan; the Iowa State Agricultural College; the Univers¬ 
ity of Maine, the Minnesota Agricultural College and others. 
One of the most successful of the forestry schools was that 
established by the State of New York at Cornell University and 
it is to be greatly regretted that this was discontinued for lack 
of funds a short time since. May it be re-established before long. 
The November issue of the “Forestry and Irrigation Journal” 
draws attention to this and many other matters of importance. 
Prominent among which is the Forestry Congress which met 
in Washington, January 2nd to 6th, 1905. Among the sub¬ 
jects considered by this congress were the following: Relation 
of the Public Forest Lands to Irrigation; Relation of the Public 
Forest Lands to Grazing;The Lumber Industry and the Forest; 
Importance of the Public Forest Lands to Mining; Forestry in 
Relation to Railroad Supplies;National Forest Policy; and 
State Forest Policy. 
From the statements made elsewhere the reader might 
readily draw the conclusion that the introduction of the Rus¬ 
sian fruits had been an entirely futile enterprise. To reason 
thus would be unfair to those interested in 
the importations, and unjust to the fruits 
themselves. It is true that the later 
introductions have not proved as rich in 
valuable varieties as the earlier. For it is 
to be remembered that Duchess, Astrachan 
and Alexander were imported by the 
Massachusetts Horticultural Society as early as 1837 and 
were fruited at the test garden at Salem, about 1840. Yellow 
Transparent was imported by the United States Department 
of Agriculture in 1870, and was popularized by the late Dr. 
Hoskins of Vermont, a fruit grower who shared with Professor 
Budd high hopes in regard to the usefulness of this class of 
fruits. Aside from these varieties, Minnesota, the Dakotas, 
Montana, Manitoba and the Canadian North West have dis¬ 
covered varieties which will grow and bear fruit in trying 
situations where fruit of the apple class were not grown before. 
This is progress!" This represents a substantial advance. 
But it is not the most important phase attending the growing 
of this race of fruits in this country. The Russians have 
PRESENT 
STATUS OF 
RUSSIAN 
FRUITS. 
27 
vigor and productiveness but lack quality and are mostly 
early maturing kinds. Our American apples lack vigor of 
tree while many of them possess fine flavor and are good 
keepers . Undoubtedly the greatest benefit which this country 
will derive from the introduction of the Russian fruits will 
come from the systematic and designed, or haphazard and 
accidental crossing of these two races. Considerable progress 
in this direction has already been effected; but apple breeding 
is slow work and undoubtedly the next generation will see the 
results of the blending the races much more clearly than we 
do at the present time. 
The work is going on quietly here and there, but unceasinelv 
nevertheless. In such varieties as McMahon White and other 
Wisconsin and many Minnesota seedling apples we are 
enabled to recognize the good work; and so it will continue. 
In passing it is worth while to mention that the introduction of 
Russian fruits brought into the public eye a number of Oriental 
or Asiatic shrubs or trees having important qualities of hardi¬ 
ness and beauty. Among these should be mentioned Ber- 
beris Thunbergii, Acer ginnala, hardy loniceras, spiraes and 
privets. These have all been important additions to our list 
of lawn ornamentals. 
With the death of Professor Joseph L. Budd, of Iowa, at 
San Antonio, Texas, on December 20th, a remarkable horti¬ 
cultural career ended and an important porno]ogical contro¬ 
versy may be said to have come to a close. For many years 
Professor Buddj was the American cham¬ 
pion of the Russian fruits, more particu 
an important larly the apple. He believed that the 
controversy future pomological standing of the Middle 
CLOSED. West depended Mn large measure upon 
the introduction and cultivation of the 
apples, plums and pears of East Europe. 
He labored unceasingly with this ideal in mind. 
He visited Russia and opened correspondence with the 
leading students of pomology in the old country; exchanged 
scions and seeds and imported large collections of orchard 
fruits. These fruits were received by the Department of 
Horticulture of the Iowa Agricultural College, of which 
Professor Budd was head, propagated and sold at low figures 
to fruit growers, professional or amateur, throughout the 
country. Right here occurred the serious mistake. They 
should have been tested first at home, and if found worthy of 
further trial distributed judiciously to careful experimenters 
in different parts of the country. 
The promoters’ belief in the fitness of Russian fruits for 
the Mississippi Valley and the Northwest was based upon 
apparent similarity of climatic conditions. There is undoub¬ 
tedly much in common in this respect between the two regions. 
But there are also many things unlike. There is more of winter 
and less of summer in many parts of Russia from which the 
apples came. Iowa and the Northwest wanted winter apples. 
Now, when an apple is brought Southward from the place 
of its nativity its keeping season is shortened by the superior 
ripening influences of the warmer season. This is what 
happened all the truly Russian apples. If winter there, 
they became fall in Iowa, if fall they were likely to prove sum¬ 
mer. Hardy trees were wanted in the West. These were 
secured. The hardiest race of apple trees in the world are 
those of Russia and they have attained this characteristic by 
