BUD SELECTION 391 



Bud Selection in Horticultural Practice. The probable importance 

 of bud selection to American pomology was recognized by Munson in 

 1906. He advocated its practice in the following words: "Select through 

 successive generations buds, that is cuttings or scions, from branches 

 which bear fruit most nearly approaching the ideal." Two years later 

 Webber presented the subject of "clonal or bud variation" to the 

 American Breeder's Association and also recommended bud selection. 

 At this time, however, there was but little evidence that could be cited 

 as proof of the practical value of bud selection. Working with violets 

 Galloway and Dorsett were able to produce disease-resistant and florif- 

 erous strains. The Boston Fern sports were beginning to attract at- 

 tention. But it was still generally supposed that bud sports were of 

 comparatively slight importance as far as pomological practice was 

 concerned. About this time two of the pioneer citrus growers of Cali- 

 fornia, E. A. Chase and J. P. Englehart, became interested in the numerous 

 variations among their orange and lemon trees and the latter began to 

 experiment with bud selection. He first recognized and propagated the 

 Golden Nugget Navel Orange, a sport from the Washington Navel. 

 He soon convinced himself that many of the variations in fruit characters 

 which he observed could be perpetuated by budding. In 1910 Coit 

 emphasized the fact that through the unintentional propagation of 

 undesirable sports a gradually increasing proportion of the trees in the 

 citrous orchards of California were developing into drones or worthless 

 types and that the only way to prevent this was greater care in choosing 

 the buds used in propagating nursery stock. Meanwhile, Shamel had 

 begun an extensive series of experiments on the improvement of citrous 

 fruits through bud selection. During his preliminary investigation in 

 1909 Shamel found what he took to be distinct types of Washington 

 Navel Oranges and the observations and experiences of certain growers 

 seemed to indicate that trees producing small annual yields and poor 

 quality of fruit could be top- worked with scions from trees known to 

 be annual high producers of superior fruit to the very great advantage 

 of the citrous fruit growers. Accordingly an elaborate system was de- 

 vised for recording the performance of individual orange, lemon and 

 pomelo trees. 



Performance Records as a Basis for Bud Selection. This study of 

 the performance of individual citrous trees has emphasized the fact that 

 there may be inherent differences with respect to quality and yield be- 

 tween different trees of the same commercial variety. Already these 

 tests have been supplemented by demonstrations in top- working low- 

 producing trees with scions from fruitful individuals. As a result of the 

 systematic campaign which the government representatives have con- 

 ducted throughout the citrous fruit districts of California and Florida, 



