76 



The Journal of Heredity 



elusions have been made solel\- from 

 the actual field work of the writer and 

 his associates. The only outside assist- 

 ance or help used in the course of these 

 studies has been the criticism and 

 suggestions given by those who are 

 interested in the work. 



We have recenth' begun the accumu- 

 lation of reliable information concerning 

 the origin of valual^le agricultural varie- 

 ties which are known to haxe originated 

 from bud variations. This information 

 is of value to us chiefly from the fact that 

 it confirms our conclusions as to the 

 utility of bud selection in the improve- 

 ment of all plants ])ropagated vegeta- 

 tively. 



We use the term imjjrovement here 

 to mean the isolation of valuable 

 strains of established varieties, and the 

 conservation and maintenance of these 

 strains, through bud selection. It is also 

 used to include the origination of better 

 varieties through the selection of bud 

 mutations of particular value. How- 

 ever, we have been inclined to give most 

 emj^hasis to the standardization and 

 imjjrovement of established valuable 

 varieties, rather than the origination of 

 new varieties. We have no quarrel wnth 

 anyone working for the development 

 of new varieties, but we feel that the 

 stabilizing of our known and valuable 

 varieties should receive the first and most 

 careful consideration of plant breeders. 

 We do most decidedly differ from any- 

 one who suggests that the origination of 

 new varieties is the most imjjortant 

 work, or should be the sole considera- 

 tion, of those who are trying to im])rove 

 our agricultural crops. 



The making of new varieties and their 

 introduction is a matter which of neces- 

 sity should be reser\'ed for si^ecialists. 

 The wholesale flistribution of new, and 

 oftentimes untried, sorts of ])lants is 

 frequently attended with disajjjxnnt- 

 ment and loss by inexperienced growers. 



PLAN OF STUDY 



The i)lan of study pursued in these 

 investigations has been to keep exact 

 records of the amount and the com- 

 mercial quality of the production of 

 individual lemon trees in orchards 

 where the conditions are particularl\- 



uniform and fa\'orable for securing 

 reliable information in connection with 

 this work. Descriptions and illustra- 

 tions of trees, flowers and plants have 

 been secured for additional considera- 

 tion and study. In this connection, it 

 should be said that the jjerformance 

 records secured in these studies are 

 from trees located in the best commer- 

 cial lemon orchards of California. The 

 owners of these orchards, without ex- 

 ception, have furnished most of the 

 labor and borne most of the expense of 

 securing the records, with the exception 

 of those of the writer and his associates. 

 This study has been carried on under 

 very pleasant and fa\'orable conditions, 

 and at a minimum cost 1)\- reason of the 

 public s]jirit shown through the active 

 cooperation of the lemon growers. 



The progeny tests of the select trees 

 in performance record plots are being 

 carried out, for the most part, in the 

 same manner. The buds for progeny 

 tests from the select trees, now more 

 than two millions in number, have 

 been furnished to cooj^erators free of 

 charge by the owners of the select trees, 

 with the understanding that the prog- 

 enies be kept separate and so labelled 

 that any progeny can readily be traced 

 back to its parent tree. The success of 

 this propagation work up to this time, 

 as shown by performance records, has 

 been the foundation upon which the 

 methods of bud selection recommended 

 for use by proj^agators have been based. 



Usually one hundred trees have been 

 included in a performance record plot. 

 In some cases, a smaller number of 

 trees has been used, where it has been 

 found desirable to study isolated trees, 

 in which case five or more comparative 

 trees have been selected for a plot. 

 The conditions in these ])lots have 

 always been gi\'cn careful consideration 

 with particular reference to uniformity 

 of soil and cultural conditions, freedom 

 from variable environmental influences, 

 and the continuous ownershij) and suc- 

 cessful management by the same owners. 

 The trees have been maintained under 

 as nearly com])arable conditions as it is 

 ])ossible to secure in ])raclical agricul- 

 ture. 



Regular monthly picks of lemons have 



