BUD SELECTION 399 



Limitations of Bud Selection. The efficacy of bud selection as a 

 means of improving the type is dependent upon the occurrence of bud 

 mutations; its practicability, upon their frequency. As a method of 

 plant improvement bud selection will always be handicapped because 

 recombinations of factors are possible only in sexually reproduced 

 individuals. Moreover, it appears that in some vegetatively propagated 

 crop plants desirable bud mutations, which can be detected without 

 resorting to statistical methods, are so rare that bud selection can never 

 become a generally used method of producing new varieties, even though 

 it may occasionally be used effectively for that purpose. On the other 

 hand, it is highly practical to give careful attention to the selection of 

 scions from such plants as are known to be healthy and typical of the 

 variety. Such bud selection is a means of preventing the propagation 

 of worthless or undesirable mutations and it should be practised by 

 every nurseryman as a matter of course. 



