Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1911-02-03
IMPROVEMENT BY SELECTION
California Owes Its Best Fruits to Re.
production From Seeds.


production From Seeds.
During a recent fruit growers con-
vention Leonard Goats of Morgan
Hill, Cal. read paper entitled "A
plea for selection" in the course Of
which he advanced tie following
thoughts: MANY of the most valu-
able fruits we grow in California are
results of selection. The Muir
peach. the Lowell peach, the Phillips
cling, the Chapman and Advance
cherries; the p. Barry pear; the
Clyman plum, the Triton apricot
Cooks a-.d SNiGnerE sppla} an
many others are natural selected
seedEs gs. And so with our almonds
and wAlEuts; the Hatch seedlings,
the l. X. L., the ne plus ultra and
the nonpareil, the Lewelling and the
Drake, and some others are the COM
mercial almonds OF California. What
ever French varities of walnuts may
prove to be. the fact remains that
all the thousands of carloads of
splendid nuts that have grown in the
state and which have made Cslifor-
mia famous are natural selected Cal
ifornia seedlings. All progressive
and broad+minded lhorticu1turists rec
ognize this fact and look to a con-
tinued steady Improvement in our
commercial varieties mainly through
selection.
Half a century ago Charles Mock
of Petaluma. after extensive expert
ments with best varieties of apple;
from eastern states, said: "The proc
ess of acclimation is not By change
on an individual transposed from its
native locality, but ON the repeated
processes of reproduction f.om seed
Every fruit grower can aid in the
work, and should seek to do so. Al
promising seedlings should be sent
to the office of tie secretary of the
horticultural commission, where &
committee of experts may be called
to act upon it. There is no other
way to do it; propagators should
never pass upon their own introduc
tons.
We may go back 10 years Or more
and may find that all the practical
growers and those who. have succeed
ed in giving the world the best varie-
ties of fruits have followed selection
in its. simplest form. Van Mons spent
his life in producing pears by care
full and intelligent selection of seed
hngs; Knight of England, did the
same with other fruits; Thomas Riv-
ers, also of England. and his son and
grandson after him, put upon the mar
ket the best plums, and many of the
best cherries, peaches and nectarines
that are known and eaten. B. S. Fox
of San Jose worked in the same way.
originating several pears which are
recognized as standards; w. H. Chap
men Of Napa did the same with Cher
ries, merely selecting the finest fruits
from the best trees, thinning it out
and sowing the seed of what re-
manned. He died a poor man, un
known. while the cherry growers OF
California are making thousands OF
dollars every year from the fruit he
gave US.
Phillips of Yuba, who gave us the
cling peach bearing his. name, died
the other day in the poorhouse.
Dick Burton of Vacaville has now in
his orchard a collection of Seeding
plums, prunes, pears and apples
which are as a whole superior to
any yet raised in the state, and some
may prove of the greatest value. But
he is careful man and will not
propagate for the market until years
of testing demonstrate their peculiar
merit. All would say is, go on with
the good work, let every grower try
to improve something, select a speci-
men tree Of some fruit which seems
nearly perfect, thin the crop very
heavily and save the seed; give ii
the best of care and select the most
promising seedlings for future expert
ment. Let them fruit and the chan
ces, are an improved variety will re-
suit. The opportunities are great for
this work, and the outlook is very
encouraging"