146 
mutations are inherited; variations re- 
sulting from environment are not inher- 
ited or at least there is no indisputable 
evidence of such inheritance. Fluctuat- 
ing variations in vigor, hardiness, and 
size of plant and in color, size, amount 
and quality of fruit play little part in 
the improvement of plants. Selection 
was formerly considered a continuous and 
cumulative process; the revised theory is 
that it is a discontinuous process and 
new characters are added in one leap. 
Somehow, somewhere, sometime in the 
life of a species of plants, a wholly new 
character is added, or removed, and the 
variation is transmissible to the succeed- 
ing generation. 
“May it not be true that size of fruit, 
vigor, hardiness or productiveness of 
plant may appear as mutations and be 
heritable? These characters may appear 
as heritable variations but it cannot be 
known without precise experiments for 
each case whether or not they will be 
inherited. No fruit grower or nursery- 
man is warranted in assuming that the 
qualities named can be handed down—~ 
the chances are many to one that such 
variations are due to nurture and are 
not transmissible. 
“For several years the speaker has 
spent much time in studying the his- 
tories of varieties of fruits. In ‘The 
Grapes of New York,’ he has had to do 
with about 1,500 grapes; in ‘The Plums 
of New York,’ 2,000 sorts of plums; in 
‘The Apples of New York,’ with about 
700 kinds of apples. When this knowl- 
edge of thousands of varieties is focused, 
one sees in fruits stability and not varia- 
tion. The generations of varieties of 
fruit do not change. The Baldwin apple, 
Bartlett pear, Concord grape, Montmor- 
ency cherry have not changed. In the 
station fruit exhibit are Greenings from 
a scion of the ‘original’ Greening tree, 
200 years old when the scions were 
taken; besides them are Greenings grown 
from trees propagated from nursery 
stock. The characters of the two lots of 
fruit are identical. If indiscriminate tak- 
ing of buds for propagation means 
changes, we should have innumerable 
types of Baldwins, Bartletts, Concords, 
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PRACTICAL HORTICULTURE 
Montmorencies and these two lots of 
Greenings ought not to look alike. 
“There are, probably, more than one 
strain of some varieties of fruits, as of 
the Baldwin for example. But these 
strains are few, not more than two or 
three for any variety and but one in the 
great majority of fruits. No one knows 
how strains have arisen-—certainly not 
by premeditated selection. The fact of 
these occasional strains does not alter 
the statement that the great majority of 
the infinitude of variations in every or- 
chard are not transmissible ”’ 
The following letter from Alfred G. 
Gulley of the Connecticut station corrob- 
orates the view of Professor Hedrick: 
(5) “I have no doubt that variations 
in tree fruits are chiefly due to environ- 
mental causes and I have not seen or 
produced variations due to causes which 
lie within the tree itself. If the latter 
is true why has there not been use 
made of it and off year Baldwin orchards 
produced? On the other hand, if true, 
how do we have standard varieties at all? 
Slight permanent variations would come 
and varieties change from the original. 
Bailey’s ‘Plant Breeding’ says that a va- 
riety will completely change in a cen- 
tury. I doubted it, so some 12 years 
ago sent over to Rhode Island and ob- 
tained scions from the reputed original 
tree. Whether original or not, it was 
known to be Rhode Island Greening, and 
at the time I got scions had had a writ- 
ten bearing record of 175 years, nearly 
two centuries. I grew this alongside an- 
other tree, both same stocks, and grafted 
from Rhode Island Greening trees ob- 
tained in New York state, which no doubt 
had been changed a dozen times or more 
Since leaving the original. I placed sam- 
ples of fruit from both trees on the tables 
at the Western New York Horticultural 
Society two years ago and had the pleas- 
ure of hearing Professor Bailey himself 
say there is no difference. I have read 
Professor Hedrick’s bulletin (Circ. 18, 
quoted above-—Ed.) and not only agree 
with him but in the year 1905 presented 
the same idea with some results along 
(5) A. P. Gulley, Correspondence, 1912. 
