28 BULLETIN 623, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



to such as will, it is thought, illustrate the character and importance 

 of the records. The complete data from the beginning of the inves- 

 tigation until the present time are open for inspection at any con- 

 venient time to all interested persons. The publication of the com- 

 plete data would entail the presentation of such a large number of 

 figures and tables as to make this bulletin cumbersome and in all 

 probability defeat one of the objects of its issue, namely, to interest 

 fruit growers and others in individual-tree performance-record work. 



The information gained from these investigational individual-tree 

 performance-record data and related observations made while secur- 

 ing them have been the basis upon which have been developed the 

 present commercial methods of practice in California in securing 

 individual-tree records, in the selection of undesirable trees in estab- 

 lished orchards for top-working, and in the choice of trees as sources 

 of bud wood for propagation. 



The conclusions presented here have not all been derived from a 

 study of the performance-record data. Some phases of tree and 

 fruit characteristics can not be recorded in figures or reproduced in 

 photographs or other illustrations. These indefinable characteristics 

 are of importance and usually are perceived only by those who have 

 a natural liking for this kind of work. Though the tree records are 

 the foundation upon which has been developed the practice of bud 

 selection described in these pages, other factors, a knowledge of 

 which has been gained from almost daily and continuous contact 

 with the trees and fruits, have been taken into consideration. The 

 instinct enabling an observer to distinguish one strain of tree or 

 fruit from another and to select the best from among many indi- 

 viduals studied during the individual-tree performance-record work 

 is almost, if not equally, as important as the actual tree records 

 themselves. It is an essential and important qualification for any- 

 one who expects to make any standardization through bud selection 

 in the Washington Navel orange or other fruit variety. This point 

 should be emphasized, for although the data secured from the indi- 

 vidual-tree records is of the utmost importance from many stand- 

 points, one of its most important uses is for the training of the judg- 

 ment of the observer. The knowledge of trees and their fruits 

 gained in this systematic manner from continuous and intimate con- 

 tact with them becomes in time of genuine value in the study of 

 varieties and their variations. 



The differences in the characteristics of the various strains of the 

 Washington Navel orange variety are often difficult to describe or 

 illustrate. The behavior of some of these strains, as shown in this 

 bulletin by means of performance records, descriptions, and photo- 

 graphs, is only a part of the story. The real differences of the 

 trees and fruits must be seen before they can be fully appreciated 



