The Question of Pedigree 169 



and some are uniformly unproductive. We know, also, 

 that cions or buds tend to reproduce the permanent char- 

 acters of the tree from which they are taken. A gardener 

 would never think of taking cuttings from a rose bush 

 or a chrysanthemum or a carnation that does not bear 

 flowers. Why should a fruit-grower take cions from a tree 

 that he knows to be uniformly unprofitable? 



Much of the variation in fruit plants is associated 

 with temporary, local or fortuitous conditions, — as the 

 character of the land in the spot where the plant stands, 

 the exposure, injuries it may have received; such modi- 

 fications are probably not perpetuated in the cions. Trees 

 propagated from heavy-bearing parents cannot be expected 

 to give good results if they are grown under neglect; and 

 undoubtedly trees grafted from unproductive parents 

 may be made to outyield their ancestry if given excep- 

 tional care. And yet it is reasonable to expect that parent- 

 age counts even in bud-propagation. The question is difii- 

 cult of determination because many factors enter into it and 

 every generation of plants is grown under its own condi- 

 tions. Other things being equal, pedigree stock is to be 

 preferred; but there always remains the question as to 

 whether the pedigree means anjrthing in any particular 

 case. 



Stocks. 



The tree-fruits are multiplied by grafting and budding. 

 The tree (or root) on which they are grafted is the stock. 



In most of the fruits, one may have a choice of stocks, 

 and this requires some knowledge of them. In the pur- 

 chase of nursery trees, however, one does not know the 

 particular stock, and the goods are commonly purchased 

 without reservation or requirement. In practice, planters 



