12 



FLORIDA STATE riORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



with it as one variety. In fact the ma- 

 jority of such seedlings yield fruit of 

 poor and inferior quality and are judged 

 unworthy of propagation and cultivation. 

 In the development of varieties it is of 

 distinct advantage when the rare seedling 

 of special merit can be propagated vege- 

 tatively. Very often such propagation 

 (grafting, budding, cutting, layering, 

 root division, etc.) is the only way the in- 

 dividual plant can be perpetuated and in- 

 creased in numbers. The individual is 

 thus kept in existence and multiplied so 

 that it may be distributed to many grow- 

 ers over a wide area and for an indefinite 

 period of time. 



Evidently this very practical and im- 

 portant lesson was learned early in the 

 cultivation of fruit plants, for the first 

 Greek writers on horticultural matters re- 

 cord that the art of propagation by 

 grafting and budding was then already 

 well understood. It appears, however, 

 that during the Middle Ages this art was 

 practiced chiefly as a cult or guild secret 

 and was regarded by the uninitiated as 

 the exercise of magic — a view quite in 

 keeping with the spirit of that time. 



Even within the mcmcjry of persons 

 now living, prominent horticulturists have" 

 considered that grafting and budding are 

 malicious practices which are perversions 

 of nature and injurious to the plants thus 

 propagated. But it is now recognized 

 that the art simply takes advantage of 

 the natural processes in the healing of 

 wounds in plants. The art of grafting 

 and budding is now taught in horticul- 

 tural schools of every rank. It is widely 

 ])racticed. The tricks of the art and the 



secrets of the propagators' guild are now 

 the common property of all. 



The merits of vegetative propagation 

 of horticultural plants are now fully rec- 

 ognized. No one will advise a grower to 

 plant an orchard of seedlings of the 

 Apple, Pear, Orange, Lemon, Date, etc., 

 or a vineyard of Grape seedlings. Also 

 vegetative propagation simplifies the prob- 

 lem of developing new varieties. The 

 problem in breeding is merely to obtain 

 a seedling of merit; it is not then neces- 

 sary to fix its type true to seed by long 

 and laborious selection of seed progenies. 

 The clonal variety immediately insures the 

 greatest uniformity possible in propaga- 

 tion. The methods of vegetative propa- 

 gation have become fully established in 

 horticulture. The clonal variety has 

 come to stay. 



But clonal propagation involves and 

 gives rise to certain problems and difficul- 

 ties peculiar to itself. It has certain dis- 

 advantages, some of which may and do 

 frequently defeat the very purposes for 

 which the plants are grown. The horti- 

 culturist needs to recognize these, to un- 

 derstand 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 de- 

 veloped for the [*ara Rubber Tree. Un- 

 doubtcdlv. in time, methods of clonal 

 propagation will be learned for nearly all 

 ])erennials that arc cultivated. 



