Even before Mendel's time plant and animal breeders had learned that crossing different varieties or different breeds made new and more desirable combinations of characters, and that in some cases entirely new traits were obtained. But Mendel's rules of heredity made this enterprise more purposeful and more effective, eliminated much wasted effort, and helped to avoid the discouragement that comes from trying to do impossible things. Already new wheats are spreading over the plains from Texas to Saskatchewan. Trainloads of crisp firm-headed lettuce are coming from California that grew in fields where disease had formerly caused sad losses. Go to any eastern market in the shipping season and you will find the stores piled high with crates of Marglobe tomatoes. New grapes, that have come from crossing the older varieties and selecting plants that ripen earlier, bear bigger bunches, and have a flavor that the Concords and Niagaras never have, are listed by nearly every nurseryman.

New York State is well adapted for growing grapes. The experiment station at Geneva - under the leadership of Beach, then Hedrick, and later Wellington - has long been interested in the production of better varieties. Some of the most successful developments are the Portland, Ontario, Brocton, and Sheridan grapes. All of these varieties are earlier, sweeter, or better flavored than the older varieties of the same season. As grown in Connecticut, Portland is the first grape to ripen, producing handsome bunches of well-flavored fruit. It combines many of the good qualities of the black Champion and the red Lutie, its parents. Unlike either, Portland is a green grape. On account of its early maturity, Portland may be grown where heretofore no variety ripened satisfactorily.

Ontario is another early green grape, not so attractive in appearance, but sweeter than Portland - better even than Winchell or Diamond, its two quality parents, and earlier than either. It is a welcome addition to the list of grapes for the home garden and is being widely planted.

The first grape seriously to rival Concord was produced at the Geneva station. This is the handsome Sheridan that gets its sturdy vine and rich luscious flavor from the old Herbert and its ability to yield abundantly from the well-known Worden. The large compact bunches of dark blue fruit, hanging in immense numbers, are a sight worth seeing. Sheridan was first named in 1920 and was distributed the following year. It has been tested in many places and, while it has some faults, these can be forgiven since there are so many good qualities to commend it.

No mention of the Geneva grapes is complete without naming Brocton. If one can imagine the juicy tenderness of Brighton, the sweetness of Diamond, and the flavor of Winchell, all combined in one fruit, he can form some idea of this quality grape. It is a tender fruit and needs extra care for its growth and can not be shipped far to market, but it is worth all the attention that it needs.

These are not all of the new grapes that have come from Geneva, by any means, and more are promised. Nor have the other fruits been neglected. One of the earliest productions to win the attention of fruit growers was the Cortland apple. Studying the list of varieties commonly grown in New York State, Beach saw in the Mcintosh an apple of much promise but one with several serious deficiencies. When rightly grown the Mcintosh is a beautiful fruit, juicy and well flavored. But it ripens too early for winter markets, and the first strong wind puts much of the best fruit on the ground. Often the trees fail to bear as full a crop as many other apples do.

Out in the West there is an apple that seldom fails to bear a heavy crop. Heat and drought leave it unharmed. The fruit hangs on in spite of prairie winds. In many places this Ben Davis is the only apple that can be successfully grown. To Beach, the Ben Davis seemed to have all of the qualities that the Mcintosh lacked. In 1898 Ben Davis buds were emasculated and covered with bags to keep out the bees. A few days later, tiny pollen grains carefully gathered from Mcintosh trees were placed on the Ben Davis stigmas. From the resulting fruit, the black seeds were taken and buried in moist sand over winter. Planted in the spring the young seedlings were soon ready to set in the trial rows. The Cortland tree at one time was just one among hundreds of similar trees, without a name or anything else to single it out from the many other offspring of the same parents .or from those of other parents. No plant wizard saw the Cortland in its awkward stage and said, "Here is a tree that will be grown by the millions."All it had was a metal tag to show that the seed came from a Ben Davis tree and had been fertilized with pollen from a Mcintosh.

There are some varieties of apples that bear a basket of fruit when three or four years old; but most varieties take from five to eight years before producing any fruit at all, and some of the finest varieties must have ten years or more. This Cortland tree bore its first fruit in 1906, nine years after the first pollination was made. At first it attracted little attention, but by 1915 it had produced regular crops of such excellent fruit that it was considered to be the finest of the whole collection. After nine years of careful observation, the Cortland was considered worthy of testing by fruit growers.

On the desk before me is a Cortland apple grown in Litchfield County, Connecticut. Its rich red color tempts me. Its fragrant aroma is the inspiration for these remarks; and if they seem to the reader to be over enthusiastic, I invite him to share with me the pleasure of sampling some of its fruit. When well grown it is beautifully colored, making it one of our most attractive apples. But fruit growers like it most because it hangs on to the trees until the fruit can be picked. When the Mcintosh is beginning to shrivel and to lose its piquant flavor, the Cortland is just coming into its prime. It is an early winter apple, while the Mcintosh is at its best only in the fall. The flesh is as white as the Snow apple - the grandfather, probably, of all the Mcintosh family. Though it has a flavor much like the Mcintosh, it is richer and sweeter and with less aroma, but more firm and just as juicy.