iPORTY-FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT. 113 



tions, conscious or unconscious tliat you Iiave made in your own 

 orchards, have your Baldwin or Spy trees all appeared identical to you or 

 do you now recall that there are differences in them, possibly as great 

 as you have knoAvn that exist in one kind of daiiy cows? The Babcock 

 test is a very valuable instrument for the dairyman. The performance 

 record may be as valuable for the fruit grower. 



So far these results are interesting or should be to every fruit or plant 

 grower. It is reasonable to suppose that similar differences might be 

 found to exist among all trees and plants, fruit trees, vines, small fruit 

 bushes and even florist's plants. But the real valuable result will be to 

 find out for certain whether these differences are passed on to the next 

 generation. To know whether these desirable features can be repro- 

 duced. From the jHirely scientific viewpoint, it is valuable to know 

 whether all these differences may be transmitted in propagation. But 

 the practical fruit grower Avants to know if, after he has found in his 

 orchard a tree that ])leases him, one that produces a good yield, or a good 

 type or shape or in some way is valuable to him, can he take buds or 

 cions from this tree and know that the tree that grows from these buds or 

 cions Avill be like the parent tree or nearly so. 



CITRUS TREE PROJIISING. 



It will we impossible to have a definite opinion upon this question until 

 it has been tested under strictly experimental conditions and naturally 

 this will require some time. It is interesting and encouraging to know 

 that as far as this work with citrus trees has gone, it is very promising. 

 T had the opportunity of seeing some orange and lemon trees last 

 January that were grown from buds taken from marked trees and the 

 peculiarity of the parent tree was plainly apparent in the young trees. 



It should be said that here exists a wide difference of opinion upon the 

 possibility of these differences being transmitted. Some students of 

 these mattei*s take the ])Osition that it cannot be accomplished and is 

 unreasonable to expect. They say that these differences may be account- 

 ed for by unlike soil which may apparently be uniform but is not, by 

 the fact tliat the stock may be different or that they are just natural 

 differences and cannot be eliminated. 



'"''PE-DIGREB STOCK^^ MYTHICAL. 



You are again asked to be open minded upon this important question. 

 To obsen-e and study it and quick to use it if it has any merit. The 

 claims of nursery comjtanies about ''pedigree stock" are probably myth- 

 ical in many cases. To have a "pedigree" of any value, it is necessary to 

 know Avhat the tree has done for a series of years, that is its performance 

 record. Until this is obtained, a "pedigree" does not mean anything. 



In some of the far western states, there are certain troubles with fruit 

 trees in which it is desired to hasten their growth in the spring. Experi- 

 ments have demonstrated that this is possible by si)raying the trees Avhen 

 they are dormant Avith a solution made up of 1 pound of Nitrate of 

 Soda, % pound of caustic jnttash dissolved in one gallon of water. These 

 experiments have been tried on apples, cherries and pears and in nearly 

 every case, the desired result has easily been obtained. This is a very 

 15 



