BUD SELECTION ° 399 
Limitations of Bud Selection.—The efficacy of bud selection as a 
means of improving the type is dependent upon the occurrence of bud 
mutations; its practicability, upon their frequency. As a method of 
plant improvement bud selection will always be handicapped because 
recombinations of factors are possible only in sexually reproduced 
individuals. Moreover, it appears that in some vegetatively propagated 
crop plants desirable bud mutations, which can be detected without 
resorting to statistical methods, are so rare that bud selection can never 
become a generally used method of producing new varieties, even though 
it may occasionally be used effectively for that purpose. On the other 
hand, it is highly practical to give careful attention to the selection of 
scions from such plants as are known to be healthy and typical of the 
variety. Such bud selection is a means of preventing the propagation 
of worthless or undesirable mutations and it should be practised by 
every nurseryman as a matter of course. 
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