72 



ANNUAL REPORT 1919 AND 1920 



nursery firms who are members of the organization. In addition, however, the 

 Association will furnish buds and scions to any fruit grower who desires to pur- 

 chase them for use in top-working. To this extent the organization operates as a 

 public service, and because of this feature has the hearty co-operation of the State 

 University, the State Department of Agriculture, and the United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture. 



In the case of citrus fruits, the work started in 1 909 revealed so many inter- 

 esting features that by 1912 or 1913 a large number of citrus growers in this 

 state were securing actual individual-tree performance records on every citrus 

 tree which they owned. The California Fruit Growers Exchange, recognizing 

 the great value to the citrus industry in having every tree in an orchard bearing 

 a uniform and high-grade quality of fruit, in 1917 organized in the Supply Com- 

 pany of the Exchange, a division known as the Bud Supply Department. As a 

 result of Mr. Shamel's investigations, and also because citrus growers for several 

 years had been securing individual-tree performance records the Bud Supply 

 Department of the California Fruit Growers Exchange right from the start was 

 able to furnish buds from record trees of the ideal strains of the standard citrus 

 varieties grown in this state. It was not necessary for the Bud Supply Depart- 

 ment to carry on detailed investigations, but simply to utilize the facts which had 

 already been estabhshed. In the case of the California Nurserymen's Bud Selec- 

 tion Association, while it is recognized that just as important variations exist in fruit 

 varieties other than citrus, nevertheless as far as this state is concerned this has 

 not been proven experimentally. It therefore remains for this Association, or some 

 other agency, to carry on investigations similar to those which have been conducted 

 with citrus fruits. The association therefore has set aside a fund of $5000 

 a year for a period of three years, which will be turned over to the United States 

 Department of Agriculture to be expended in deciduous fruit improvement investi- 

 gations in Cahfornia. While it is recognized that the results of these investiga- 

 tions may not be available for several years the directors of the Association beHeve 

 that considerable work can be done on the question of elimination of varieties 

 and also in better methods of selecting budwood than have been followed in the 

 past. The commercial activities of the organization during the coming year will 

 be directed along the line of: first, securing definite action on the elimination of 

 varieties ; second, selecting budwood from bearing trees in established plantations ; 

 and third, the starting of commercial individual-tree performance records on just 

 as large a scale as can be handled. In the matter of elimination of varieties the 

 work which has been done by your Association will be taken more or less as a 

 model. 



It is practically agreed by all California fruit growers that with every fruit 

 there are now too many varieties listed, and that in every case if a few varieties 

 could be selected and developed as representative California fruits it would simplify 

 matters, not only from the nurserymen's standpoint, but also from the standpoint 

 of the grower and shipper. With this end in view conferences have been arranged 

 with the leading shippers, canners, and associations of fruit growers. It is hoped 

 that as a result of these conferences, a short list of varieties can be selected for 

 each fruit which has any commercial importance in the state, and the work of the 

 Association directed along the lines of securing the very best possible type of bud- 

 wood within these varieties which are recommended by the different fruit interests. 



During the first few years it will not be possible to cut buds from perform- 

 ance record trees, except in the case of avocados, olives, and walnuts. For the 



