Hayes and Garber - Cucurbit Breeding

FRUIT BREEDING 265
He emphasized the value of crossing as a means of producing
improved forms for he believed this method was more rapid than
Von Mons' selection practice.
American Pomology. Throughout the nineteenth century
American pomologists made great progress in the improvement
of fruits. While many American named varieties occurred as
The
chance seedlings, others were the result of careful breeding.
strawberry and grape are examples of fruits in which many of
the varieties are a result of controlled breeding. Selection and
crossing both played important parts in the improvement of
varieties. Hovey was one of the best known of the early strawberry
breeders who worked during the first half of the nineteenth
century.
The production of improved American varieties of grapes well
of new fruits.
illustrates a common method of the production
Old World grapes did not succeed in the greater part of the United
States, as European varieties proved very susceptible to diseases,
particularly mildew. The production of American varieties from
native wild species gave us many of the cultivated types. Some
of the best of the early varieties arose as chance seedlings. Concord
was thus discovered by Ephraim W. Bull and introduced
about 1853. It has been frequently used as a parent for the
production of the improved forms. Some improved forms have
resulted from crosses between native and European varieties,
Delaware being generally thought to have been so produced.
With the plum, as with the grape, the native American species
have furnished the source from which a large part of the American
varieties have been produced (Wight, 1915). Several wild
species have been used and frequently the varieties which have
proved best adapted to a given locality have been produced
from the wild form which is native to the same region.
SOME CONSIDERATIONS OF FRUIT BREEDING
Fundamental laws of heredity furnish the same foundation for
a development of correct breeding technic in the fruits as with
other crops. There are, however, some factors which modify
breeding methods. For example, a single tree takes up considerable
field space and thus has a greater value than a single
plant of wheat or corn. In comparing varieties and clonal lines
the question of soil heterogeneity must be considered for this is