THE OUTLOOK FOR PLAXT BREFDING. 103 



these marked changes or mutations which are of such vakie to the 

 breeder. It does not now seem probable that we will be able to 

 guide the direction of the change but if we can increase the number 

 of the variations we will increase our chances of getting the ones 

 showing desirable improvements. 



The use of variations produced by hybridization is of the greatest 

 importance, but is well understood by horticulturists and need not 

 be discussed in detail here. 



The importance of breeders giving careful attention to bud varia- 

 tions should also be emphasized. We know that occasionally a 

 tree will produce on one branch a variety of fruit different from that 

 on the rest of the tree, and the same is true with flowers. The 

 cause of this is a change that takes place in the bud instead of 

 through the seed and sexual reproduction. Every tree is of a com- 

 plex nature and every bud on a tree differs from every other bud on 

 the same tree. As siinple and fundamental as this truth is, it is 

 scarcely recognized as it is diflficult to find anpvhere an orchard in 

 which the buds used for the budding or grafting have been selected. 

 It is generally recognized that buds reproduce their kind when used 

 in propagation. If we take buds from a Baldwin apple tree they 

 produce Baldwin apples, but horticulturists know that the fruit of 

 Baldwin apples from Colorado, Washington, Arizona, and New 

 York, regions differing widely in climate and altitude, are of different 

 shapes, color, and flavor. No evidence is available to prove that 

 these changes are not sometimes inherited. If we examine the trees 

 in an orchard of Baldwin apples, we may find one tree that will pro- 

 duce well and another immediately by its side which is a poor pro- 

 ducer, and yet they are both Baldwin apple trees; both have all the 

 characteristics of the Baklwin, one, however, is a good producer and 

 the other is not. It is these latter good yielders that bring in the 

 money. We have evidence to show that these good and bad char- 

 acters are largely transmitted to the bud progeny, yet we pay almost 

 no attention to the plants from which we select buds or cuttings. 

 An orchard will last for a hundred years, and we plant largely for 

 our children, yet we pay little heed to the selection of the buds which 

 we use in propagation. 



• In conclusion the speaker wishes to urge every horticulturist 

 and farmer to adopt a breeding fad, to select some one plant which 



