BUD VARIATrON IN THE LISBON LEMON. 11 



The trees of the Sporting strain vary in size, habit of growth, and 

 productiveness according to the character of the variations borne by 



them. 



LESSONS TAUGHT BY THESE INVESTIGATIONS. 



As in the case of the other lemon variety, the performance-record 

 studies of the Lisbon trees have been particularly interesting, for the 

 reason that the frequent pickings have made possible the almost con- 

 tinuous systematic observation of individual-tree behavior through- 

 out the enthe year. A very large number of buds taken from supe- 

 rior trees of both the Lisbon and Open strains in the performance- 

 record plats have been furnished to propagators. These buds from 

 individual j)arent trees have been kept separate, so that each progeny 

 can be traced back at any time from the orchard planting to the 

 parent trees. In addition to these buds which have been cut from the 

 best of performance-record trees, buds have also been taken from the 

 poorest trees, in order to compare under orchard conditions the be- 

 havior of the progenies of the most desirable with those from the 

 undesirable parent trees. 



The early fruiting of the young trees propagated from select 

 parent trees is just as marked in the Lisbon as in the Eureka variety; 

 in fact, it is even more striking in the Lisbon variety, as it was for- 

 merly thought that trees of the Lisbon strain were slow in coming 

 mto production. Experimental propagations from productive parent 

 trees of this strain in the performance-record plat have shown 

 that young trees of this strain come into fruiting very early. Within 

 some of the strains marked variations of importance commercially 

 were found, but none as striking as the variations which distinguish 

 the strains themselves. These individual- tree differences within the 

 strains should be taken into account by the performance-record 

 keeper and the knowledge of these variations utilized in the selection 

 of trees for top-working or for use as sources of bud wood. 



There is a marked correlation between the quantity and quality of 

 the fruits produced by the individual trees of the different strains in 

 the Lisbon variety. A similar correlation was found in the studies 

 of the individual-tree production of the various strains of the Eureka 

 lemon, the Washington Navel orange, the Valencia orange, and the 

 Marsh grapefruit. The trees bearing the most lemons usually pro- 

 duce the best commercial fruits. Usually the most productive trees 

 show the fewest marked variations in fruits from the type of the 

 strain to which they belong. This condition makes the securing of 

 production records especially valuable, in that it enables the grower 

 to secure a reliable conception of the fruits of the individual trees. 



