THE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY OF NEW YORK 



ods of vegetative propagation have become fully established in hor- 

 ticulture. The clonal variety has come to stay. 



But clonal propagation involves and gives rise to certain prob- 

 lems and difficulties peculiar to itself. It has certain disadvantages, 

 some of which may and do frequently defeat the very purposes for 

 which the plants are grown. The horticulturist needs to recognize 

 these, to understand them and to take measures to correct them, 

 that the culture of clonal varieties of all the important fruits and 

 perennial flowering plants may be made more nearly perfect in 

 every detail. 



PERFECTING MEANS OF PROPAGATION 



For certain plants means of vegetative propagation remain to 

 be discovered. Such a method has only recently been developed 

 for the Para Rubber Tree and for the Papaya. Undoubtedly, in 

 time, methods of clonal propagation will be learned for nearly all 

 perennials that are cultivated. 



Methods of vegetative propagation now in use for various plants 

 can no doubt be improved. It may not be possible to find better 

 general purpose stocks for the fruits long propagated by grafting 

 — Apple on French Crab, Cherries on Mazzard and Mahaleb 

 stocks. Plums on Myrobalan stock, etc. — but for many fruit crops 

 there is undoubtedly much to be learned as to how to secure the 

 most congenial relations between scion and root stock and between 

 the branching system and the root system of these dual individuals 

 that are grown as one plant. Perhaps this may be advanced by 

 a further standardizing of root stocks through their vegetative 

 propagation. These are problems incident to the arts of propaga- 

 tion. They are primarily matters requiring the attention of 

 nurserymen and of those growers who propagate their own nursery 

 stock. 



BUD VARIATIONS 



In propagating clonal varieties nurserymen and growers of 

 fruit and garden plants should be on the alert to correct any 

 tendency to bud variation by giving proper attention to selection of 

 buds or branches for propagation so that the standard type of the 



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