The Question of Pedigree 169 



and some are uniformly unproductive. We know, also, 

 that cions or buds tend to reproduce the permanent char- 

 acters of .the tree from which they are taken. A gardener 

 would never think of taking cuttings from a rose bush 

 or a chrysanthemum or a carnation that does not bear 

 flowers. Why should a fruit-grower take cions from a tree 

 that he knows to be uniformly unprofitable? 



Much of the variation in fruit plants is associated 

 with temporary, local or fortuitous conditions, as the 

 character of the land in the spot where the plant stands, 

 the exposure, injuries it may have received; such modi- 

 fications are probably not perpetuated in the cions. Trees 

 propagated from heavy-bearing parents cannot be expected 

 to give good results if they are grown under neglect; and 

 undoubtedly trees grafted from unproductive parents 

 may be made to outyield their ancestry if given excep- 

 tional care. And yet it is reasonable to expect that parent- 

 age counts even in bud-propagation. The question is diffi- 

 cult of determination because many factors enter into it and 

 every generation of plants is grown under its own condi- 

 tions. Other things being equal, pedigree stock is to be 

 preferred; but there always remains the question as to 

 whether the pedigree means anything in any particular 

 case. 



Stocks. 



The tree-fruits are multiplied by grafting and budding. 

 The tree (or root) on which they are grafted is the stock. 



In most of the fruits, one may have a choice of stocks, 

 and this requires some knowledge of them. In the pur- 

 chase of nursery trees, however, one does not know the 

 particular stock, and the goods are commonly purchased 

 without reservation or requirement. In practice, planters 



