Preliminary Evaluation and Description of Domestic and Introduced Fruit Plants S

South Dakota State University Open PRAIRIE: Open Public Research Access Institutional Repository and Information Exchange South Dakota State University Agricultural Bulletins Experiment Station 6-1-1958 Preliminary Evaluation and Description of Domestic and Introduced Fruit Plants S. A. McCrory Follow this and additional works at: http://openprairie.sdstate.edu/agexperimentsta_bulletins Recommended Citation McCrory, S. A., "Preliminary Evaluation and Description of Domestic and Introduced Fruit Plants" (1958). Bulletins. Paper 471. http://openprairie.sdstate.edu/agexperimentsta_bulletins/471 This Bulletin is brought to you for free and open access by the South Dakota State University Agricultural Experiment Station at Open PRAIRIE: Open Public Research Access Institutional Repository and Information Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Bulletins by an authorized administrator of Open PRAIRIE: Open Public Research Access Institutional Repository and Information Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. BULLETIN 471 JUNE 1958 NORTH CENTRAL REGIONAL PUBLICATION NO. 90 PRELIMINARY EVALUATION AND DESCRIPTIONS OF DOMESTIC AND INTRODUCED fruit plants Agricultural Experiment Stations of Alaska Missouri Illinois Nebraska Indiana North Dakota Iowa Ohio Kansas Michigan South Dakota Minnesota Wisconsin U.S. Department of Agriculture HORTICULTURE-FORESTRY DEPARTMENT AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION soun--1 DAKOTA STATE COLLEGE ·:· BROOKINGS Technical Committee for North Central Region Project NC-7 The Introduction, Testing, Multiplication and Preservation of New and Useful Plants of Potential Value for Industrial and Other Uses and for the Preservation of Valuable Germ Plasm of Economic Plants. Administrative Advisor-£. F. Frolik, South Dakota-S. A. McCrory Nebraska Wisconsin-W. H. Gabelman Illinois-£. B. Patterson A1aska-M. F. Babb Indiana-H. H. Kramer Regional Station-W. H. Skrdla, Re Iowa-I. J. Johnson-Chairman gional Coordinator Kansas-C. E. W assom U. S. Department of Agriculture, Agri Michigan-C. M. Harrison cultural Research Service, Crops Minnesota-A. N. Wilcox Research Division, New Crops Re n Missouri-A. D. Hibbard search Bra ch CRi,l Plant Introduction Section Nebraska-L. C. Newell H. L. Hyland North Dakota-T. E. Stoa CRi,2 Crop Development Section Ohio-F. S. Howlett W. E. Whitehouse 2 Acknowledgements Grateful acknowledgement is made to all who helped make this report possible. The late John Neilson and W. B. Wood were most helpful in assisting with assem bling the plants and propagating them for planting. Many have helped with the maintenance work and in collecting data. The representatives of the Regional Technical Committee were very helpful in suggesting ways for improvements of the manuscript. Dr. W. E. Whitehouse, of the Section of Plant Introduction, also gave helpful suggestions. Grateful acknowl edgement is made to all for their help. 3 Contents Introd u ction ____ ----------------------------------------------------------------________________ ___ __________ _ __ 5 How the Material Was Assem b led______________________________________________________________ 6 Syste rns of Naming__________________________________________________________________________________________ 7 Blossom Dates ____ ------------------------------------________________________ ____________ ____________________ 8 Disease Observations ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 8 Description of Varieties --------------------------------------------------------------------____ ________ 13 Craba pples -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 13 Apples -------------------------------------------------------------____________________ ________________________ 24 Russian Apple Collection__________________________ -----------------------------_______________ 27 Pea rs _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ ·-------__ 30 Sand cherries ____________ ______ ____________________________ ____________________ _____ _______ ___ _ _ __ ___ _____ __ _ 32 Apricots ______________________________ ____________________ __________ _____________________ ________ ____ ________ _ ___ 34 Summary __________________________________ --------------------------------------_________ _________ __________ ______ 36 Literature Cited -------------------------------------------------------------------___________ ______________ 3 9 Tables 1. 4-Year Bloom Average________________________________________________________________________________ 9 2. Disease Ratings of Apples and Crabapples______________________________________ ____ ___ 10 3. Earliness, Size, and Color of the Fruit of Apples and Cra ba pples______________________________________________________ _______________________ _ 11 ° 4. Dates for Occurrence of 32 F. or Lower at Brookings__________________________ 37 5. Temperature at Brookings from 1931 to 1952 __________________________________________ 37 6. Precipitation by Months at Brookings, 1942-57__ ____________________________________ 38 3700-5-58-5609 4 Preliminary Evaluation and Description of Domestic and Introduced FRUIT PLANTS By S. A. McCRORY1 Introduction The apple, cultivated for more ences, the Great Lakes area, and than 2,000 years in Europe, was other small areas having physical brought to North America by early geographic features affording pro settlers. Before their introduction tection. In this area the extremes of into North America, many vari both winter and summer were se eties had been selected and were vere, while rainfall was frequently under cultivation in Europe. Seed inadequate. Large areas were sub of these European varieties and, in ject to polar air masses in winter some cases, grafted trees, were in with extremes of cold. In summer, troduced into America during the the dry atmosphere of the Plains colonization period. This cultivated was frequently accompanied by apple probably had its remote ori drought of extreme severity. gin in western Asia, in distribution The frequency of these extremes ranges of the wild Malus syfoestris was great enough to be hazardous and M. pumila species. Great for for a plant with a 25 to 30 year life ests consisting primarily of fruit span. trees, to the east of the Caspian Sea, These climatic conditions con probably provided the ancestors of tinue to limit fruit growing in the our early American apples. area, with the exception of rainfall From these early plantings, ap which has been partially overcome ples were disseminated by pioneers, by irrigation. The inability of a Indians, missionaries, and traders, plant to tolerate climatic conditions with the westward development of in this area is not peculiar to the America. The failure of the apple to apple. The same is true for the apri survive winter conditions, when cot, peach, plum, pear, and cherry. they were planted in what is now Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North North-Central United States, be Dakota, South Dakota, Northern Il came noticeable to early settlers. linois, and Northern Nebraska pro The area troubled most includes duce only 2% of the total apple crop roughly the northern half of the of the United States. ( 4) United States with the exception of 1 Horticulturist, South Dakota Agricul the area protected by coastal influ- tural Experiment Station. 5 6 South Dakota Experiment Station Bulletin 471 Pioneer fruit breeders in the ing work ( 2). L. H. Bailey ex Great Plains area recognized the pressed the opinion that new and winter hardiness in the Siberian improved varieties might be ex crabapple, M. baccata, a species na pected to come from a mixing of the tive to eastern Asia. In 1882, J o.seph Siberian crabapple, the native crab L. Budd introduced the Siberian apple, and the eastern apples ( 1) . crabapple for use on the prairies of N. E. Hansen believed that, in order the Northwest. He made collections to develop a hardy variety, it would from the colder climate of Russia be essential to .start with hardy par for use at the Iowa Agriculture Ex ent material ( 3) . periment Station. Peter M. Gideon, Thus, it appears that early fruit Superintendent of the Minnesota breeders recognized the necessity of State Experimental Fruit Farm, in finding fruit plants with hardiness 1887 gave much credit to the Siber not possessed in the early plant in ian crabapple as a parent for breed- troductions. How the Material Was Assembled In 1895, N. E. Hansen started This aid was helpful in the assem fruit breeding at the South Dakota bling and evaluation work. Agricultural Experiment Station. Plants in the collection are from Much of his work for the next 50 domestic and foreign sources and years was devoted to collecting include apples, crabapples, apri plants of the most hardy sort from cots, pears, plums, and sandcher.:. all over the world. He assembled a ries. In addition to the original large collection of hardy varieties, material, many seedlings which many of Russian origin, including Hansen produced by crossing selec Siberian crabapples, and selected tions and varieties have been re some native material showing great tained for evaluation. winter hardiness. The native crab Since collecting was a continuous apple, M. ioensis, made up a part of operation, it is not possible, in all this collection. Shortly after his re cases, to tell from available records tirement, an effortwas made to con the time or place a collection was

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