BUD VARIATION IN" THE EUREKA LEMON. 
79 
very detrimental to the reputation of the California lemon industry, 
from the fact that the fruits from the trees of these strains are of 
inferior quality and when placed on the market are likely to be the 
cause of serious disappointment to the consumers. The Eureka 
strain is the only strain in this variety which is of commercial value. 
THE UNINTENTIONAL PROPAGATION OF UNDESIRABLE STRAINS. 
The originators and early propagators of lemon varieties in Cali- 
fornia have usually used the fruit characteristics as a measure of the 
comparative value of the parent trees for propagation. Later, the men 
who secured commer- 
cial bud wood from 
orchards of the estab- 
lished varieties lost 
sight of the impor- 
tance of the fruits in 
the selection of p arent 
trees as sources of bud 
wood. In most cases 
they secured bud 
wood from the trees 
where it was easiest to 
get it — that is, from 
vigorous-growing 
trees of the vegeta- 
tive strains. These 
strains are usually the 
least productive and 
the least desirable. 
Other prop agators as- 
sumed that the size of 
the tree was correlat- 
ed with production; 
therefore they se- 
cured their bud 
wood from the 
largest trees. In 
other cases nursery- 
men assumed that 
they could grow the 
best nursery stock — 
that is, the largest 
nursery trees, in a given time from sucker bud wood secured from 
the largest parent trees. The result of these various practices has 
been the unintentional propagation of poor fruiting strains. It is 
believed that the most frequent and important cause of the propaga- 
FiG. 18.— Fruit-bearing bud wood on a lemon tree of the Eureka 
strain, with typical fruits attached. The leaves have been removed 
from one bud stick in order to show the method of preparing the 
bud sticks for use. 
