FIFTEENTH ANNUAL MEETING. 1 39 



When care has been taken to breed up an animal so that it 

 will be able to produce its kind to almost perfection, when 

 mated with one equally well bred, it means a price for such 

 stock which is beyond the reach of the averag-e farmer. 



The term "thoroughbred" carries with it the idea or thought 

 that all bad or undesirable traits have been removed — it is 

 par excellence. Then, the term "thoroughbred, " when ap- 

 plied to nursery stock, carries with it the idea of its superiority 

 over some other nursery stock, and thereby some are deceived. 



It is not strange that this is so, for too many of us are quite 

 apt to accept these plausible statements as facts. 



'Thoroughbred trees," "Pedigree trees/' oh, how nicely it 

 sounds ! What an inviting and tempting bait it is ! Now let 

 us look briefly into this matter. We will take an apple tree 

 for our study, and see if the term thoroughbred, as we under- 

 stand it, can be reached in its propagation. To plant the 

 seeds from a Baldwin apple, to raise improved Baldwins would, 

 you know, be impossible. It never has been done and never 

 will be done. If the Baldwin cannot be reproduced from the 

 seeds of the Baldwin, can we have thoroughbred apple trees 

 from their seed? We cannot, of course. The Baldwin of 

 seventy-five years ago is the Baldwin of to-day, and the 

 Baldwin of to-day is the same as seventy-five years ago, and 

 equally as good. I am aware there is a difference in the 

 appearance of Baldwin apples, as may be seen at any ex- 

 hibition, where a number of samples are shown, yet they 

 are Baldwins, just the same, but are grown under dift'erent 

 conditions, hence the difference in looks. There are some 

 who think the Baldwin lias deteriorated and the fruit is not 

 what it was when first introduced. I do not believe this at 

 all. I do think, however, that the trees have, in some cases, 

 been weakened by propagating them from scions taken from 

 stunted and unhealthy bearing- trees. 



A tree grown from scions taken from a young, thrifty 

 tree and grafted on a young, healthy seedling, planted on good 

 soil, well cultivated and fed, will bear fruit as near perfection 

 as it can be grown, but starvation and neglect in growing fruit 

 as well as in animals will not give prefection. 



The statements made by these growers of so-called "thor- 

 oughbred" trees, viz., that the scions are taken from trees 



