IMPROVEMENT OF PLANTS. 265 



(/) When the stigma is pollinated, it should be re- 

 sacked and labeled. 



(g) After the fruit is set, it might be well to replace 

 the paper sack with a gauze one (Fig. 866), which 

 should be allowed to remain until the fruit is ripe, thus 

 freely admitting air and light, yet affording protection 

 from insects and birds, and preventing its loss by falling 

 or being picked through mistake. 



3. Bud Variation. It may be that a single 

 branch may show new and striking- characters 

 (Fig. 87), and possibly very desirable ones; for 

 example, the smooth skin of the nectarine is the 

 product of a bud variation of the peach, and the 

 mossy stem of the moss-rose is also a bud varia- 

 tion or so-called sport.* 



It becomes necessary to perpetuate such varia- 

 tions by bud propagation, since the characters of 

 the plant as a whole are more likely to be re- 

 produced through the seed, even of that partic- 

 ular branch, than are the characters of a single 

 branch. f 



III. Fixing the Type. 



It must be remembered that thus far only a 

 starting-point for a variety has been obtained. 

 It yet remains "to fix" that variety that is, to 

 make it "come true" from seed. This requires 

 far more skill and patience than the work of 

 securing the desired variation in the first place. 



"Selection is the force which augments, de- 



Bailey's Plant Breeding, p. 161. f Year-book, 1898, 357. 



