March, 1921 



BETTER FRUIT 



re 7 



maturity and the quality of the fruit 

 may be affected because of bud vari- 

 ations. Moreover, but mutations may 

 occur in any part of the tree, though it 

 may not be directly evident in the 

 fruit. Undoubtedly the largest number 

 of mutations are exhibited by the tree 

 proper. But because of their lesser 

 practical importance, they have es- 

 caped observation and reference. 



It is of particular value to emphasize 

 here that the productivity or perform- 

 ance of the tree may be determined in 

 many instances by bud mutations. In 

 respect to economic value, it may have 

 worked in either direction — toward 

 greater or lesser productivity of the 

 tree. ShameFs work with citrus fruits, 

 shows us quite clearly that here we 

 have to deal with instances of real bud 

 variations or mutations ("bud vari- 

 ations" — Shamel) that are of tremen- 

 dous economic significance. Individual 

 trees or whole orchards may have been 

 propagated from buds that could have 

 been called mutants or variants in re- 

 spect to their bearing habits, which in 

 many instances has been in the direc- 

 tion of lessened productivity. 



Already as early as 1910 Coit ex- 

 pressed the belief that through unin- 

 tentional propagation of undesirable 

 sports, an increasing proportion of 

 trees in citrus orchards of California 

 are of the drone type. The investiga- 

 tions of Shamel tend to show that this 

 most probably is the case with all vari- 

 eties of citrus trees. It appears that 

 because of convenience and economic 

 considerations, bud-wood has been ob- 

 tained from trees of low degree of 

 fruitfulness. At least, some such trees 

 may have come about because of bud 

 mutations. These variations have thus 

 been propagated bringing about the 

 present condition. 



The question now arises as to 

 whether such a state of affairs could 

 possibly exist in some of our deciduous 

 ordchards. At present there is no evi- 

 dence to show that it does. In the 

 first place, as already mentioned, decid- 

 uous fruit plants seem to vary or mu- 

 tate far less frequently than citrus 

 trees, though some varieties may do so 

 more often than others. The Baldwin 

 apple, for instance, is said to sport 

 more often than most any other apple. 

 Perhaps this is due primarily to the 

 length of time this variety has been 

 under observation. The whole Ben 

 Davis group is supposed to be also in 

 a state of unstability. But as the ques- 

 tion of new varieties is not of so great 

 an interest as the increase in profitable- 

 ness of the orchard, the matter may be 

 settled only by the keeping of exten- 

 sive performance records of the indi- 

 vidual trees. Will it pay to keep such 

 records? 



The meager evidence that we have 

 from our experiment stations throws 

 but little light on the subject. Data 

 gathered for four years of the yields 

 of 1,240 trees at the Virginia experi- 

 ment station show that some 400 trees 

 of this lot produced four barrels of 

 fruit per tree, making up 60 per cent 

 of the crop, while 200 other trees aver- 

 aged less than a barrel per tree. Yield 



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records of McMahon, Patten and Mcin- 

 tosh apples kept for 18 years at a Ca- 

 nadian station have given similar re- 

 sults. The most productive trees yield- 

 ing about twice as much as the least 

 productive ones. How much these dif- 

 ferences in fruitfulness may be as- 

 cribed to environmental conditions, 

 such as soil, moisture supply, etc., is an 

 open question. But because of the fre- 

 quency and importance of fluctuating 

 variations we would be safe to assume 

 that the environment is the main, per- 

 haps the exclusive factor. Then, too, 

 since the stock on which almost all of 

 our fruit trees are grown is a seedling, 

 undoubtedly this has a whole lot to do 

 with these differences in performance 

 of the trees. (The subject of the recip- 

 rocal influence of the stock and scion 

 will be discussed in a subsequent arti- 

 cle.) 



Granting all this, we are still con- 

 fronted by the possibility that the wide 

 differences of productivity of our fruit 

 trees may be due to the unintentional 

 propagation of low producing strains 

 — bud variations or mutations of an 

 unproductive or drone type. Commonly 

 trees that are shy bearers exhibit ex- 

 ceptional vegetative vigor. They pro- 

 duce good bud wood. They are tempt- 

 ing, convenient and adaptable for prop- 

 agating purposes. It must be under- 

 stood, however, that there is no infor- 

 mation on hand that any such drone 

 strains have been propagated and are 

 in existence in our orchards. 



Lacking such an evidence, what can 

 the prospective orchardist do to safe- 

 guard himself against such a possibil- 

 ity? Lately there has been manifested 

 a growing and persistent demand for 

 the best, the most reliable trees. To 

 meet it many nurserymen have been 

 offering "pedigreed" trees, taking ad- 

 vantage of the meaning associated with 



the term "pedigree." Some of such 

 trees probably are no better than any 

 other stock save perhaps that they have 

 been chosen for their healthy appear- 

 ance and size. Others have been grown 

 from buds or scions obtained from 

 trees that were thought to be superior 

 in respect to general vigor of the tree 

 and the quality and quantity of fruit 

 they have borne. 



May it be stated here that the term 

 "pedigreed" is a misnomer. No tree 

 can really be called pedigreed unless 

 its genetic constitution or at least its 

 vegetative parentage can be traced 

 back for a large number of generations. 

 It would be far more correct if such 

 nursery stock, as Coit has suggested, 

 should be known as "selected." 



No absolute guarantee can be at- 

 tached to trees selected in this manner. 

 Though the parent plant from which 

 hud wood was cut for propagation of 

 the stock may be all that could be de- 

 sired, there is no assurance that the 

 offspring will he a chip of the same 

 block. The good qualities and be- 

 havior of the scion tree may be due to 

 the exceptionally favorable environ- 

 ment and good care to which it is ex- 

 posed. In other words, it may have ex- 

 hibited fluctuation that can not be prop- 

 agated. Such trees, however, carry 

 some assurance with them at least. 

 They have not been grown from buds 

 of an unproductive tree — one belonging 

 to a drone strain. It is to the honor of 

 many reputable nurserymen that they 

 do select their bud wood with care. 



It is almost needless to emphasize 

 here that the roots or stock upon which 

 the tree is grown undoubtedly has fre- 

 quently a decided influence upon the 

 behavior of the tree. Witness the 

 dwarfing of a tree if grown on certain 

 roots and the performance of the lat- 

 ter to various soil conditions. The Illi- 



