The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1878-08-09
HYBRID APPLES.


HYBRID APPLES.
In your last issue was an article
rejecting On the hybrid apples, and
on the men now selling them at
some extraVagant price, and claim
ing for them, it is alleged, some alb
surd qualities. The man who could
write in a condemnatory way of so
useful a class of apples, is surely
not we'll enough posted to assume to
be a teacher, for wherever these ap-
pies are known they are acknowl-
edged to be the best suited to our
wants on the prairies being Vigor-
ous growers, astonishingly early
bearers, and of quality fully equal
to the common sorts. Why they
should be superior in some respects
will be seen on examination of the
tree itself. Take up q Duchess, a
Wealthy, or an Astrachan, and COM
pare with say Yellow BeIlfower or
Winessp, and the most striking diff
ference in root growth will be
found. The one will be found sup
piled with q great abundance of
both fibrous and large, far-reaching
roots, the other with few roots of
either sort. The microscope reveals
another important difference in the
structure of the leaf. The Hybrid
has very few pores, and consequent
ly yields moister slowly to the dry
ing winds. The other has a leaf
like sponge, giving eut moisture
to the swift moving, thirsty wind,
almost as fast as the roots can sup
ply 1T.
We desire as briefly as possible to
explain what the Russian, or hybrid
apples are, and what their peculiar
merit consists. 1 have found in
Kansas, in instances too numerous
to mention, members OF the Siberi-
an crab family which were the only
survivors of hardships, and enemies.
Even the alI-devouring hopper fail
ed to kill them when he destroyed
apple and peach trees on the same
grounds. l mention an instance in
Mcpherson county: Mr.. Miner, on
Sharpe's creek, has some, the only
vestiges of quite large planting of
apple and peach trees. Now why
should the Siberian survive unless
it has some Inherent vitality and
stI ength not possessed by the COM
mon apple?
What are called hybrids or Rus
sian, are crosses of the common ap-
pie and the Siberian, or some other
of the Russian apples. Many of
them have the hardy character, car
ly and abundant fruitfulness of the
crab, united with the excellent
quality of the apple. Take the Iowa
Blush, the Wealthy, the Tefler's
Orange, and we have eating apples
of the very first-class; the last one
quite unsurpassed. OF the Russians
proper, as Duchess, Astrachan, the
same may be said az to fruitfulness,
vigOr and quality.
No intelligent fruit-man ever
thinks of calling in question the &C
tual superiority of these now we'll
known sorts; indeed SO successful
are they everywhere, that they are
the recognized standard for hardi-
ness and vigor. "Hardy as a Ouch
ess," is the commonest of compari-
sons. By hardness we do not N can
ability to Withstand cold merely,
but extreme changes of cold, heat,
drought and wet.
Permit me, in closing, to quote
from the essay on 'Relation of Bot
any to Horticulture" by H. IL. Nc
Affee, for some years professor of
horticulture and forestry in the
Iowa State Agricultural COLLEGE.
Trans. /. S. Horticultural Society,
1876, page 166: GIN practice we find
the Siberian crabs and all of the
Russian types of apples, endowed
with infinitely more inherent vitali-
ty, and capacity to endure extremes
of temperature, rainfall and drought
than our native apple" And in
discussing the question of parent
age of our common apple, he says ::
"Probsbly it makes little difference
whether we ever know whence it
came, but it happens that among
our apples we have certain types
which are always hardy, and GER
tain other types almost always too
tender in the prairie regions. Friend
Budd has often talked to US about
this thing, and 1 think he is on the
right track. He calls these uniform
fy hardy apples, with leaves which
resemble the Siberian crabs, and
which every one will recognize
when I say, they are like Duchess
Russians Wherever they have
come from, have no sort of doubt
but they are the coming apple for
the prairie states. And confirming
this view comes the fact that all, or
nearly all, of the new candidates for
favor which are maintaining their
reputation well, are of this class.
The four most promising apples l
know, are plainly of these Russians,
viz: Wythe, Norris, Whitney No.
20, and Iowa Blush, and luckily for
as. two of them are excellent keep
ers, and that is what we lacked
among the Russians before. Utter,
Wealthy and Walbridge are also in
this class" D. r. 'PILsBURY.