The Importance of the Variety

Abstract

The most significant thing in orchard horticulture and in orchard history is the clonal variety. By scion propagation, one seedling tree or mutant branch may, through the years or centuries, have millions of descendants as nearly identical with it as the different environments permit. In apples and pears, at least, the fruit of many varieties that have been discarded because of market quality, was far superior in quality to the characteristic fruit of the species, and even far superior to that of the average seedling that can be grown from the best market varieties. Yet even in districts where the best varieties are profitable, an orchardist can be made bankrupt by having too much of his planting composed of varieties that have not yet been completely discarded or those popular only in some local markets.