28 SYSTEMATIC POMOLOGY. 



of the Russian apples. Over large areas grafting was but little 

 practised by peasants, and but few varieties grown; hence seed was 

 saved mainly from the strongest, best trees. There is now a large 

 group of seedlings of Duchess of Oldenburg in America, especially in 

 the Northwestern States, which shows resemblance to their parent. 

 In the Southwest many seedlings of Ben Davis have appeared, many 

 of them so near like the parent as not to be worthy of introduction, 

 while others, such as Gano and Black Ben Davis, are an improvement 

 on the parent in some respects. In the Northwest a large number 

 of seedlings of Wealthy have recently appeared, which resemble that 

 variety quite closely. The Wolf River, which is considered to be a 

 seedling of Alexander, has largely superseded its parent at the West 

 because of demonstrated points of superiority. The Concord grape 

 and certain plums and peaches show a strong tendency to reproduce 

 themselves from seed. The late Geo. P. Peffer, originator of the 

 Pewaukee, Peffer, and other apples, claimed that any apple will 

 reproduce itself from seed if inbred by covering the blossoms to 

 prevent access of pollen from other varieties. 



BUD VARIATION. 



From the foregoing discussion the reader will conclude that 

 propagation by grafts or other mode of division will always reproduce 

 the variety. This is so nearly true that the whole art of nursery 

 propagation may be said to be based upon it. However, it is also 

 true that under certain unknown conditions any one bud may change 

 its character so as to give rise to a new variety sufficiently distinct 

 to be worthy of a separate name. This is termed "bud variation," 

 and is a prolific source of new varieties in certain plants, such as chrys- 

 anthemums and roses. Sometimes the change is only slight, and this 

 may be termed a sub-variety. In Northwestern nurseries, for in- 

 stance, two Wolf plums are now recognized, the freestone and the 

 cling; it is not known, however, whether this is a bud variation or a 

 seedling mixture. The Wealthy apple has apparently varied some- 

 what under propagation, and recently gave rise to remarks at the 

 Minnesota State Horticultural Society meeting by the son of the 

 originator, who distributed sprouts from the original tree to help 

 settle the matter. Experienced fruit-growers have long noticed 

 that in a large number of apple-trees of one variety in the same orchard 

 some trees are more productive than others. The most advanced 



