SECTION VI 

 PROPAGATION 



The universality of variation in plants when propagated sexually is well 

 known. Comparatively few are the fruit plants which reproduce their 

 like by seed with any great degree of certainty. Though this condition 

 has certain disadvantages it is, on the whole, fortunate. The animal 

 breeder or the breeder of seed propagated plants, when he has obtained a 

 desirable individual, confronts the problem of reproducing its like, of 

 fixing the strain. The propagator of fruit plants facing the same prob- 

 lem has a different solution ; from the parent plant he cuts pieces each of 

 which produces a plant practically the same as the original. The problem 

 of propagation of fruit plants is essentially making these pieces of the 

 parent plant live. Sometimes they grow if thrust into earth; hence, 

 propagation by cuttings. Again, they must be placed on rooted plants 

 with which they can unite; hence, budding and grafting, which is in reality 

 the placing of cuttings is another medium. 



Though the conception is simple, actual practice involves a seemingly 

 interminable variety of refinements and detail, varying with the climate, 

 the species, even the variety and with economic conditions. The mere 

 feasibility of a given process does not demonstrate its expediency and 

 though the process is expedient it does not necessarily follow that the 

 product is of lasting value. A certain stock may be desirable to the 

 nurseryman because it is cheapest, or most easily worked or makes the 

 best initial growth and still it may not be well suited to the orchard. 

 This condition may be reversed. Again, a given stock may be entirely 

 satisfactory if the trees are planted in one section or in one soil and totally 

 unsuited to another section or to another soil. 



Though the art of grafting (the term as used in this discussion in- 

 cludes budding) apparently antedates the art of writing, many questions 

 growing out of its application are far from answered, at least so far as 

 American practice is concerned. In the early days of standardized apple 

 production, when the seedling orchards were newly topworked to named 

 varieties, there was much discussion of the effect of stock on cion and of 

 related questions, but attention was soon diverted to the protection of 

 fruit and trees from pests and for many years little notice has been given 

 the underground parts of the trees, except when it was forced upon 

 growers in some sections. With the rise of commercial nurseries the 



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