CHAPTER VIII 

 SOME GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS 



Pedigree Nursery Stock. This is a much abused and 

 a much misunderstood term. To the nurseryman it 

 means one thing and to the scientist another. To the 

 former it is interpreted to mean the careful selection of 

 buds or cions from strong, vigorous healthy trees. It 

 implies that extra efforts are made to make the trees true 

 to name and represent the best strains of any particular 

 variety. To the scientist, the term conveys the same 

 meaning as it does when used in connection with animal 

 breeding. It is our purpose to analyze these various uses 

 and to see if some term cannot be found which may be 

 accepted as a common definition. 



The term " Pedigree," as used in nursery work, has no 

 foundation for a comparison with animal breeding. The 

 two processes have no biological relation. The one involves 

 the mating of individuals which makes the progeny sub- 

 ject to all the laws of heredity; the other is simply the 

 continuation of the same individual by dividing it into 

 numerous pieces and growing them to maturity. It is 

 somewhat unfortunate that the same word should have 

 different meanings when applied to different subjects, but 

 this is not uncommon in the English language. 



As to the much argued question: " Is pedigreed stock 



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