THE MONTHLY BULLETIN. 433 



available, it represents his most important contribution to the improve- 

 ment of nursery stock, since he is essentially a propagator and dis- 

 seminator but rarely the creator or even the discoverer of improved 

 varieties. 



In order that nursery stock may be improved in the broadest sense 

 of the word, the orchardist must be continually on the alert to observe 

 all that is desirable among Nature's raw materials — the chance seedlings 

 and bud-sports ; the plant breeder must take the most desirable traits 

 from the best we have in each fruit and endeavor to combine them; 

 the scientific investigators of our experiment stations must enter the 

 practically neglected field of rootstock investigation and determine, not 

 only the affinity between stock and cion, but the root that is best 

 adapted to certain soil conditions and best adapted to resist insect 

 pests and plant diseases; while the nurseryman, profiting by all that 

 these have done, must get out of the rut of blind and thoughtless fol- 

 lowing of old horticultural trails that have naught but antiquity to 

 recommend them, and he must fully understand the great responsi- 

 bility resting upon him as counsellor and guide to many orchardi.sts. 

 He should never forget the cruel disappointment to someone that must 

 inevitably follow either his carelessness or his dishonesty if he should 

 allow stock to leave his hands other than that which his customer 

 desires. He must place his business on a higher plane than that of 

 mere buying and selling and must feel that it is his mission to be an 

 agent in helping Nature add to the welfare of mankind. 



With this fourfold force in intelligent cooperation the improvement 

 of nursery stock will be greater than we can at this time imagine, and 

 its effect upon horticultural development will be so far-reaching that 

 we can not even attempt to estimate the results. 



