Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1918-09-17
Apple Breeding at fiighmoor Farm
MANY HUNDRED SEEDING APPLE TREES
GROWING THERE.

The majority of people in the state are
familiar with the general orcharding sx-
periments conducted by the Maine Agri-
cultural Experiment Station at High
moor Farm. Outside of those whu
make q practice of visiting the farm
relatively few know about the extensive
apple breeding work which is also being
carried on there. This arises chiefly
from the fact that the results Of such
breeding experiments come In very
slowly and until the results are secured
there is little of interest that can be
written.
The apple breeding work was started
in 1911, the second year after Highmoor
farm was purchased by the state. The
work has been continued each year so
that at the present time there are over
1900 Seeding trees growing In the ex-
perimental orchard and next spring
several hundred more will be trans
planted from the cold frames where the
seeds are started.
Practically all Of the present com
mercisl varieties of apples are the result
of chance seedlings which someone
found growing by the wsyside. Un-
doubtedly many excellent varieties
originating in this way have been over
looked because those who knew about
them had no special interest in growing
apples. There is little doubt that If
one will grow TO maturity enough seed
lipgs be viii secure some excellent new
varieties. The long time that it takes to
secure fruit from q Seeding and the ex-
pense for land and care make 1t i'm
practicable for the private orchardist to
undertake this work on q large scale.
Such work can only be undertaken by q
State or Federal institution whose life
time is not limited to that of the in
dividual.
For the reasons given above practical
ly nothing is known about the in
heritance of various apple characters
such as favor, hardness, color, keeping
qualities, etc, etc. From the general
laws of inheritance as worked out with
other plants and with animals we have
every reason to believe that most OF
those characters are Inherited separately
from the others so that by making the
proper combinations and growing large
enough mum bers IL would be possible to
combine, say the flavor and color OF the
Mackiutosh with the hardness, disease
resistance and keeping qualities OF the
Ben Davis.
The work now being carried on at
Highmoor has just such objects as these
in view. Each spring at blooming time
hundreds Of new cross pollination are
made. In doing this work it is neces-
sary to take the buds before they have
opened and cut away all the yellow sta
mems which bear the pollen. The
flowers are then bsgged and left until
they would normally be in full bloom.
10 the meantime mstured pollen is
gar arhered from another variety which 1t
is desired to use as the male parent In
the cross. At the proper time the bag
is removed from the emasculsted bios
som and the new pollen busted over 1t
with a soft brush. The blossom is
then rebsgged and tagged to Indicate
exactly the nature of the cross.
Under ordinary conditions from 5 to
20 per cent of the blossoms treated 10
this wsy, will set fruit. This fruit is
harvested when mature and later the
seeds are planted In the cold frame.
An exact record is kept showing the
parents of every Seeding. The results
when obtained will enable rs to tnd out
ometbing about the Inheritance OF GER
tain characters. When this is known it
will be possible TO undertake Intelligent
ly to breed exactly the kind OF an
apple wanted. At the present time 1t is
only hit or miss. We cross two varieties
and hope that out Of the large progeny
we may get one or two promising seed
lings. Out Of the many hundred seed.
lings growing at Highmoor, some OF
which will begin fruiting within the
next year or two, We hope that rev
may be valuable.
The great need for new varieties IN
| this state 10 indicated by the recent dis
cussion IS to . substitute for the BALDWIN
which is not hardy enough for our cn'
mate. The concsnsus of opinion seems
to be that at present there 10 no variety
which can replace the Baldwin. Inc
Experiment Station has been at work on
this very problem for the past years
but owing to the nature of the work u
has no results to offer yet. We are,
however, making progress and In time
We hope to produce an apple bred lot
Maine conditions and with qualities
| equal to the best.-Chas. d. Woods'
i Director.