Pears (Waite) — Varieties more or less self-sterile.— Anjou, Bartlett, Boussock, Clairgeau, Clapp, Columbia, De la Chène, Doyenne Sieulle, Easter, Gansel's Bergamotte, Gray Doyenne, Howell, Jones, Lawrence, Louise Bonne, Bonne, Mount Vernon, Pound, Sheldon, Souvenir du Congres, Superfin, Colonel Wilder, Winter Nelis.

Varieties generally self-fertile.-Angoulême, Bose, Brockworth, Buffum, Diel, Doyenne d'Alençon, Flemish Beauty, Heathcote, Kieffer, Le Conte, Manning Elizabeth, Seckel, Tyson, White Doyenne.

Apples (Waite and Fairchild)- Varieties more or less self-sterile.-Bellfleur, Chenango (Strawberry), Gravenstein, King, Northern Spy, Norton Melon, Primate, Rambo, Red Astrachan, Roxbury Russet, Spitzenburgh, Talman Sweet.

Varieties mostly self-fertile. - Baldwin, Greening.

Codlin,

The

"The varieties of apples are more inclined to be sterile to their own pollen than the pears. With the former, in the great majority of cases, no fruit resulted from self-pollination. results, as a rule, however, were less clear-cut than in the pear, because, with most of the self-sterile varieties, an occasional fruit will set under self-pollination, and none of the varieties were very completely self-fertile."- Waite.

Other fruits.-Many of the native plums are notoriously self-sterile, particularly Wild Goose.* Other self-sterile varieties are Miner, Wazata, Minnetonka, Itasca. Varieties more or less self-fertile are More

*Wild Goose is well pollinated by Moreman, Newman, Smiley and Miner, according to J. W. Kerr.

man, Newman, Wayland, Golden Beauty, Marianna, Deep Creek, Purple Yosemite.

Strawberries often lack stamens altogether, whilst others, like Crescent, have SO few and SO poor stamens that they are practically self-sterile. Ordinarily, there should be a row of a perfect-flowered variety for every two rows of a pistillate or infertile variety.

"The quince seems to fruit nearly as well with its own pollen as with that of another variety."- Waite.

Grapes (Beach) — Unfruitful when planted by themselves.-Black Eagle, Brighton, Eumelan, Massasoit, Wilder, Rogers' No. 5, Gaertner, Merrimac, Requa, Aminia, Essex, Barry, Herbert, Salem.

Able to set fruit of themselves.-Concord, Diamond, Niagara, Winchell or Green Mountain, Rogers' Nos. 13, 24, and 32, Agawam, Delaware.

6. Determine which are the best varieties for your purpose by experimenting, and by diligent inquiry of neighbors, pomologists, nurserymen, books, experiment stations,* and of marketmen.

THE SELECTION OF THE PLANTS.†

It is first of all necessary, in selecting the plants for fruit grounds, to determine what first-class stock is. "The nurseryman contends that he grows the

*Notes upon the uses of variety tests by experiment stations will be found in "Survival of the Unlike," pp. 171 and 370.

†The Methods of propagating fruit plants are fully set forth in "The Nursery-Book."

First-class Stock.

231

varieties which the planters want those for which there is a demand. As a matter of fact, he largely forces the demand by magnifying the value of those varieties which are good growers in the nursery. The nurseryman's business ends with the growing of the young tree, and the tree which makes the straightest, most rapid and cleanest growth is the one which finds the readiest sale. Now, it by no means follows that the variety which is the cheapest and best for the nurseryman to grow is the best for the fruit-grower. Probably every apple-grower is now ready to admit that the Baldwin has been too much planted, whilst Canada Red and various other varieties which are poor growers in the nursery row have been too little planted.

"The blame for this condition of things does not rest wholly with the nurseryman, although it is partly his fault. The original difficulty lies in the fact, it seems to me, that our conception, and consequently our definition, of what constitutes a firstclass tree is at variance with the truth. We conceive a first-class nursery tree to be one which grows straight and smooth, tall and stocky, whilst we know that very many-perhaps half-the varieties of apples and pears and plums will not grow that way. In order to make our conception true, we grow those varieties which will satisfy the definition, and, as a result, there is a constant tendency to eliminate from our lists some of the best and most profitable varieties.

"All this could be remedied if people were to be

taught that varieties of fruit trees may be just as different and distinct in habit of growth as they are in kind of fruit, and that a first-class tree is a wellgrown specimen which has the characteristics of the variety. It seems to me that it is time for nurserymen to begin to enforce this conception upon the public. Why may not a catalogue explain that a tree may be first-class and yet be crooked and gnarly? Why not place the emphasis upon health and vigor, and not upon mere shape and comeliness? And why may not a nurseryman give a list of those varieties which are comely growers, and another list of those which are wayward growers?"*

It is generally best to buy first-class trees,those which are of medium size for their age, shapely in body and head, stocky, with straight, clean trunks and abundant roots, which are not stunted, and are free of borers and other injuries, and, in the case of budded trees, those in which the union is very near the ground; and the tree should show the natural characteristics of the variety. In dwarf pears, especially, it is important that the stock, to be first-class, shall be budded very low. It is often thought that large size is of itself a great merit in a nursery tree, but this is an error. Vigor, cleanness, cleanness, stockiness, firm, hard growth, are much more important than bigness. The toughest and best trees are usually those of medium size. The very small extra expense which

"The Survival of the Unlike," p. 246.

Age of Plants for Setting.

233

one incurs in buying the best trees is a good investment. In an acre of apple trees, the difference in cost of first-class over second-class trees will not be more than a dollar or two, but the difference in results is often great.

The age at which plants should be bought must be governed by circumstances and by variety. There is a general tendency to buy trees too old rather than too young. When varieties are new and scarce, it may be economy to buy young stock. Some of the freer-growing apples and pears are large enough when two years old, if grown from buds ; but these fruits are usually set at three years from the bud or graft. Dwarf pears may be set at two or three years, preferably at the former age. Quinces are set at two and three years. Peaches are set at one year from the bud. Strawberries are set only from new plants (that is, those which have not borne); gooseberries and currants preferably from two-year stock, and raspberries and blackberries from stock not more than one season old.

Dwarfs vs. standards.-Fruit-growers are always asking whether standard or dwarf trees are the better to plant, but the question is a personal one, and cannot be answered for another any more than the question can as to whether peaches are more desirable than plums. Dwarf apples and

dwarf pears are of a different type of fruit-growing from the standards, and the intending grower must weigh the evidence for and against as best he can.

As a general thing, the standards are the