128 



86, all but number 9 were the highest in the second year ; in 

 other words, there is a certain amount of consistency in th-i 

 matter of yield and this gives grounds for hopes in the fu- 

 ttire. 



To summarize this work I quote the statement by Mr. 

 Fred Reed of Riverside, California. "I have the figures 

 right here on a couple of trees, the accumulated data for 

 two complete years and a part of this present year. Our 

 tree No. 2, for the average of the three years, has turned off 

 '7G8 pounds. Tree No. 4 has turned off 443 pounds. Those 

 two trees are not so different that any one who is not an ex- 

 pert passing through an orchard would notice any difference 

 in them, but there is a difference in their production in three 

 years of 325 pounds of fruit. Up there we think we are do- 

 ing pretty well to get two cents per pound, orchard run for 

 the fruit. The difference between the value of the product 

 of tree No. 2 and tree No. 4 is something like this : The 

 value of product of tree No. 2 at two cents a pound, orchard 

 rim, is $15,36. The value of the product of tree No. 4 is 

 $8.86. There is a difference of $6.50. We have about Tl 

 trees to the acre on our ranch, and if all the trees were of as 

 good a grade as tree No. 2 the difference would be a little 

 matter of $468.00. I think anyone can digest the point to 

 his own satisfaction." 



Prof. Hedrick of Geneva in recent bulletins on the ques- 

 tion of pedigreed trees, states, "It is very doubtful if apples 

 can be improved by bud selection and the so-called "pedi- 

 greed stock'' is probably worth no more than trees grown 

 under general nursery practise;" elsewhere he notes that 

 the yields from the 200 Rome Beauty trees at the Geneva 

 Experiment Station, all of which were propagated from one 

 individual tree, by their wide variation in yield, gives food 

 for thought to those who have faith in the possibility of the 

 selection of buds. However, the interesting point is that 

 we have no statistical record of the performance of this 

 parent tree; we have no knowledge of the grounds upon 

 which it was selected ; it may have been a tree like number 



