Progress in Apple Improvement

PROGRESS IN APPLE IMPROVEMENT J. R. MAGNESS, Principal Pomologisi, 13ivision of Fruit and Vegetable Crops and Diseases, liureau of Plant Industry ^ A HE apple we liave today is Jû" rciuovod from tlic "gift of the gods'' wliich prehistoric man found in roaming the woods of western Asia and temperate Europe. We can judge that apple only by the wild apples that grow today in the area between tlie Caspian Sea and Europe, which is believed to be the original habitat of the apple. These apples are generally onl>r 1 to 2 inches in diameter, are acici and astringent, and are far inferior io the choice modern horticultural varieties. The improvement of the apple through tlie selection of the best types of the wild seedlings goes far baclv to the very beginning of history. Methods of budding and grafting fiiiits were Icnown more than 2,000 years ago. According to linger, Câto (third century, B. C.) knew seven different apple varieties, l^liny (first centiuy, A. D.) knew^ 36 different kinds. By tlie time the iirst settlers froni Europe were coming to the sliores of North America., himdreds of apple varieties had been named in European <M)unt]*ies, The superior varieties grown in l^ûrope in the seventeenth century had, so far as is known, all developed as chance seedlings, but gardeners had selected the best of the s(>edling trees îvnd propagated them vegetatively. The early American settlers, ptirticiilarly those from the temperate portions of Europe, who came to the eastern coast of North Amer- ica, brought with them seeds and in some cases grafted trees of European varieties. Within a few years after the iirst settlements were made in the temperate portions of North America, bearing apple trees were reported. From this start, apple trees were ra,pidly disscjuinated. The apple was apparently carried by Indians, traders, and missionaries into the wilderness far beyond the white settlements. In the early writings frequent mention is made of Indian villages with apple and peach 1 This article is made possible only through tlic cooiiorai ion of Jiiaiiy workers on a[)p]o brcodiníí in boUi the United States and liurope. Reports on which portions of this distiussion are basod luivo been received from the following State agricultural experiment station wôrkers: Lcif \'crncr, 3(iaho; M. J. Dorsey, Illinois; J. L. Lantz, Iowa; R. M. Bailey, Maine; A. L. Bchrader, AFarylarid; J. K. Shaw, Massachusetts; W. 11. Alderman, Minnesota; Paul H. Shepard, Missouri; State Fruit Experiment Station; A. E. Murneck, Mis- souri; Richard WeHington and G. H. Howe, New York (State) Station; h\ S. ITowlcttand C. W. Ellenwood, Ohio; N. E. Hanson, South Dakota; Fred W. HofMann, Virginia; also from W. 1*. Baird, U. S. Northern Great Plains Field Station, Mandan, N. Dak.; C. P. (.'lose, IJ. S. Department of Agriculture, Washing- ton, D. C.; T. F. Ritchie, acting Dominion horliculturist. Central Experimental Farm, Ottawa, Canada; Sir Daniel Hall, director, John Inncs Horticultural Institution, Morton, England; Carl G. J>ahl, Lantbruks, Mejeri-och Trädgardsinstitut, Alnarr>, Sweden; lug. Fr. l/andovsk^^ State Institute for Horticultural Research, Priihonice, Czechoslovakia; I'rof. Dr. Uudorf, Kaiser Wilhelm Institut fiir Ziichtungsforschung, Müncheberg, Germany; and Jl. Wonliolz, Department of Agriculture, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. 575 576 YEARBOOK. 1937 orchards adjacent to them; apparently the Indians were an important factor in the early dissemination of these fruits. All the Indian orchards consisted, of course, of seedling trees. Since the apple does not come true from seed, wide variations in size, color, and quality of fruit and season of ripening undoubtedly occurred in these early orchards. As the country became more settled, farmers and gardeners were interested in growing the best of these seedlings rather than in planting a miscellaneous assortment that could be secured from seed. ^ It is uncertain just when the first grafting of apple varieties was practiced in the United States. Taylor (ISj pp, 308-309) ^ says: Certain it is that in 1647 the apple is recorded as grafted upon wild stocks in Virginia, while in 1686 William Fitzhugh, in describing his own plantation, mentions "a large orchard of about 2,500 apple trees, most grafted, well fenced with a locust fence." * * * Frequent importations of seeds, scions, and grafted trees, together with propagation from those already noticed, both by seeds and grafts, brought the orchards of New England up to such point that Dudley, in 1726, stated in a paper in the Philosophical Transactions, "our Apples are without doubt as good as those of England, and much fairer to look to, and so arc the Pears * * * Q^J. people of late years, have run so much upon Orchards, that in a village near Boston, consisting of about forty Families, they made near ten Thousand Barrels [of cider]." ■Italic nurabcns in parenthèse? refer to Selected References to Literature, p. fiOJ. APPLE breeding is a task that requires not only great patience hut ability to look well into the future. In most sections of the United States at least 10 to 15 years are required to grow an apple from seed to bearing age and to obtain an accurate evaluation of it. To propagate and test a promising kind ivill require an additional 10 to 12 years. Therefore not less than 25 years are usually required from the time a cross is made until the progeny of that cross can be fully evaluated. Additional years must then elapse before commercial orchards come into fruiting. Thus it usually takes from 30 to 40 years between the planting of the original seed and the production of commercial crops of even a very superior apple. Apples originating from the earliest breeding investigations in the United States^ begun as far back as 1880., are just noiv coming into prominence; those from the breeding work of 20 or 25 years ago are not yet fully tested. It is easy to see, then, whyfeiv of our popular commercial varieties have as yet resulted from modem breeding work. However, there is every prospect that varieties superior to those now in use ivill result from the many thousands of hybrid seedlings now under test at various research centers. APPLES 577 As settlements spread westward to the Mississippi Valley and on to the Pacific, apple planting kept pace. An eccentric missionary, John Chapman, known as 'Johnny Appleseed'^ roamed the frontier settlements of Ohio and Indiana in the early nineteenth century, planting apple seed and starting orchards wherever he went and encouraging others to do the same. He lived to see bearing trees throughout the area. Thus the "apple became more or less naturalized throughout the temperate part of North America. The apple varieties grown here today are quite largely those that have been developed from the seedling trees that happened to be superior. Only a few of our important commercial varieties have been imported from Europe. During the past century the primary emphasis in the United States has been on varieties with superior dessert and cooking quality, along with good size, a range of ripening from midsummer to late fall, and a storage quality that will carry the fruit through the winter months. Perhaps the greater emphasis in Europe on the use of apples for cider making is partially responsible for the smaller number of really high-quality dessert apples selected there. Table 1, in the appendix, indicates the source of leading American varieties of apples so far as it is known. Few of the apples that have reached commercial promise to date have been produced as a result of systematic hybridization. The reason for this is readily apparent when certain of the factors involved in apple breeding are considered. Practically no systematic work was started in the United States prior to 1880, and little was carried on prior to 1895. In most sections of the United States at least 10 to 15 years are required to grow an apple tree from seed to bearing age and to give an accurate evaluation of it. To propagate and test a promising kind will require an additional 10 to 12 years. Therefore not less than 25 years is usually required from the time a cross is made until the progeny of that cross can be accurately evaluated. Additional years must then elapse before commercial orchards come into fruiting. Thus from 30 to 40 years will usually elapse between the planting of the original seed and the production of commercial crops of even a very superior apple. Apples originating from the earlier breeding investigations are just now coming into commercial prominence. Since much of the breeding work has been conducted during the last 20 or 25 years, sufficient time has not yet elapsed to give a full evaluation of the offspring of the crosses made. THE RAW MATERIALS OF THE APPLE BREEDER THE apple belongs to the great family of plants termed by botanists the Rosaceae, or rose family. This family is very large and includes many tree fruits of the Temperate Zone, such as plums and prunes, peaches, cherries, apricots, and pears, as well as strawberries, black- berries, and many other forms of cultivated and wild plants. Apples and pears belong to the pome fruit subfamily Pomoideae, which includes, in addition to these fruits, the hawthorns, cotoneasters, quinces, medlars, mountain-ash, and a number of additional related forms. All of the plants in this subfamily are characterized by having the seeds borne in a fleshy covering and having two to five carpels, or seed cavities, in each fruit. Within the Pomoideae the genus Malus, 578 YEARBOOK, 1937 comprising the apples, makes up one important group.

Load more