Fruit tree patentIn 1932, the first U.S. plant patent for a fruit tree (Plant Patent 7) was issued for a hybrid peach tree which ripens later than other varieties. It was Plant Pat. 7. James E. Markham assigned his patent to Stark Brothers Nurseries and Orchards of Louisiana, Missouri for $2,500. It was the result of "a cross between the J.H. Hale peach and an unknown yellow variety of a strong and vigorous character." The cross was said to produce a heavy crop of fruit that "is uniformly large—there being no small peaches appearing on the tree." and these large peaches "exceeded in size and quality those of its progenitors." The Markham peach tree, which produced five bushels of fruit, was the result of five years' effort of serum treatment, pollenization and grafting to produce a fruit with dwarfed seed.« |
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