1902 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
BUD VARIATION; SHALL WE BREED TREES? 
Will you tell me just what your experience has been 
with what is known as bud variation? Do you find it 
true that certain trees, say of apples or pears, have 
peculiar and distinct characteristics to such an extent 
that when buds or wood are used from these trees for 
budding or grafting decisive characteristics are sure to 
be conveyed? In theory this ought to follow, but does 
anybody really know of cases where it has worked out 
in actual practice? 
Variation Is Wall Marked. 
It seems to me that there are two fairly well mark¬ 
ed types of variation. 1. Bud variation as expressed 
by the change of character of a single branch of a 
tree. This type of variation is accurately transmitted 
by buds, e. g., Bank’s Red Gravenstein apple which 
appeared as a sprout on a tree of the ordinary Gra¬ 
venstein type. 2. Bud variation as expressed by the 
characters of the entire tree. These characters may 
take the form of superlative vigor of tree, great pro¬ 
ductiveness or handsome appearance of fruit. You 
can find in almost every orchard these exceptionally 
fine trees. Will these good qualities continue in young 
stock propagated from them? I think so. But I don’t 
know it, because I haven’t seen the proposition 
proved. At all events, I have enough faith in it to 
try it on a commercial scale. john craig. 
Budding From the Best Trees. 
I notice quite a difference in the fruit borne by my 
Bartlett pear trees, in shape, texture of skin, and ap¬ 
pearance generally. Some trees, as a rule, bear pears 
with a smooth skin and more perfect pear shape than 
others standing in the same row, and receiving the 
same treatment, but I am unable to state positively 
what is the cause. The trees appear to be equally 
vigorous and healthy, and in all other respects ex¬ 
actly alike. On the principle that like begets like, if 
I were taking buds or scions for my own use I should 
certainly select them from trees which bear the kind 
of fruit I most admire, and I have made it a rule for 
the past four years for a friend who is in the nursery 
business to come to my place each year and cut a lot 
of peach buds from my best trees, so that I may be 
able to keep the same strain of fruit for which I have 
acquired a reputation in the market. This may be 
time and care wasted, but reasoning on general prin¬ 
ciples, I think 1 stand a better chance of getting and 
keeping a uniform lot of fruit than I would if the buds 
were cut haphazard from trees in nursery rows. 
Pennsylvania. Gabriel iiiester. 
Some Interesting Results. 
I have a young King orchard In hearing that has 
the Spy for stock and upon which was grafted the 
King from scions from the best and most nearly per¬ 
fect trees in Tompkins County. From the healthy 
growth and the exceedingly fine apples that orchard 
is now bearing I feel that there is value in the selec¬ 
tion of perfect buds from strong trees, and the strong¬ 
est parts of individual trees. I have taken special 
pains to select Jonathan from the strongest buds 1 
could find on bearing trees, and from the fruit I am 
getting on these young trees I feel there is value in so 
selecting buds. I do not believe the selection of buds 
constitutes tree breeding, but I believe by selecting 
the best buds from each generation there would be a 
gain and improvement. I have also propagated Sut¬ 
ton Beauty on this principle, S. D. Willard selecting 
for me from his best trees. I have shown these Sut- 
tons at the State Fair and Mr. Willard did not recog¬ 
nize them; they were so large in size and so unusual¬ 
ly fine. I think, perhaps, very few have had the ex¬ 
tensive work in this direction that 1 have had done 
in the last nine years, as my orchards during this 
time are so top-worked. There is a decided variation 
in bud development. I have sufficient faith in the se¬ 
lection of the best to grow large orchards on this 
principle. There has not been sufficient work done on 
this line beyond one generation to get reliable data 
from anyone that I can name. geo. t. powell. 
Records of Observation. 
I always use buds or scions from the best trees. 1 
should not bother to do so if I did not believe it would 
pay. A few years since an Ada Spaulding Chrysanthe¬ 
mum (light pink) produced one branch of bright yel¬ 
low flowers. Plants raised from that sport have al¬ 
ways produced yellow blossoms; the type appears 
firmly established. Had the bud variation been in 
producing a larger and better flower, why could not 
that type been kept up just as easily? I have a Bald¬ 
win apple tree with one limb red russet, a bud sport 
which has happened in other places. I bought a 
Baldwin tree grown by a neighboring farmer which 
always bore the odd year; the fruit would pass any¬ 
where for Baldwin, yet the fruit when grown was 
never satisfactory, and the tree was grafted over; it 
was either a bud variation or budded from some 
Baldwin seedling. I am satisfied that grafts from 
this tree would have produced an inferior Baldwin; 
a tree which could be sold as Baldwin and no one 
could prove it was not that sort. I have Bartlett pears 
from several nurseries. Trees from two places have 
never proved satisfactory, for what reason I cannot 
say; yet I fail to raise as fine a type of fruit as on 
other trees under same conditions as far as I can see. 
I have never grafted the two together, so cannot 
prove that under exactly the same conditions they 
would be different. I must say, however, that I have 
not experimented enough with bud variation to say 
positively whether it would pay to use buds from se¬ 
lected trees, yet I am testing the matter somewhat, 
and if I were to set another orchard I would give it a 
fair trial. h. o. mead. 
Massachusetts. 
BEST VARIETIES AND BE SI LOCATIONS. 
For the past few years I have been following closely 
the discussion going on among fruit growers and 
fruit papers both east and west, as to which are the 
best varieties, and also as to the location of the best 
fruit sections. If I have learned anything from the 
discussion, it has been about mankind, more than 
about fruit growing, for, like the patriot’s country, 
the fruit grower’s best fruit always grows at home. 
According to men of high authority, there is only a 
small place in the wide world, where the apple will 
grow to perfection in color and quality, but the diffi- 
NO ROOM FOR THE BARREL. Fie. 62. 
culty lies in the effort to get this spot to make a per¬ 
manent settlement, as it seems to be of migratory 
habits. From one report it is in Maine; with the 
next it has taken up its abode in the mountain val¬ 
leys of Virginia and North Carolina. Now we hear of 
this ideal region being located on the banks of the 
Hudson; but again the perfect conditions and perfect 
fruit are found in the lake regions exclusively. There 
is no enterprise, however, but what the West seems 
to be able to go the East one better. So it is when 
it comes to growing fine apples—on paper. Iowa 
claims to have shown the finest apples at the Pan- 
American, while Illinois, Missouri and Kansas beat 
the world at the Paris Exposition; and, as a matter 
of course, California and the Pacific States always 
163 
claim everything, everywhere. Indiana won first on 
high-quality apples at the Chicago World’s Fair, and 
the Ozark region claims to grow Ben Davis apples as 
delicious as New York Bartlett pears. It begins to 
look as though ink and prejudice are as strong factors 
as soil and sunshine in making some apple sections 
noted. After all, isn’t it fair to say that quality In 
fruit is half a matter of sentiment, and color largely 
the result of care? Nature is not partial to man nor 
locality, although she may seem to be toward 
methods. The same sun that puts stripes on the Ben 
Davis paints blushes on the Baldwin. In the way of 
fruit production, the West asks no favors of the East, 
and the East need have no fear of the West If, in 
their enthusiasm, they should both plant too largely, 
there is little doubt that the scab and the scale, bitter 
rot and blight, may be relied on to prevent any over¬ 
production of fine fruit. j. f. m. 
A " RESOLUTION " DUEL 
Our western friends mean business from the start. The 
Northwest Wool Growers' Association met recently and 
passed the following resolutions: 
“Whereas, There is pending in Congress a bill to compel 
the manufacturers of oleomargarine butter to refrain 
from putting coloring matter in the compound, so that it 
looks like butter, under penalty of paying a heavy tax 
that would be practically prohibitory, and, 
“Whereas, If the said bill should become a law it would 
practically abolish the manufacture of this healthful and 
desirable substitute for butter, and, 
“Whereas, The use of oleomargarine among stockmen 
on the plains and mountains has been almost universal 
and is the-only butter that is practicable for such use, be¬ 
cause of its keeping qualities, and, 
“Whereas, We believe that the addition of coloring mat¬ 
ter to oleomargarine in its manufacture is harmless and 
adds greatly to the appearance and consequently makes it 
more palatable, and, 
"Whereas, The proposed legislation is vicious, uncalled 
for and class legislation of the worst kind, as it builds up 
one industry for another equally as meritorious; therefore, 
be it 
“Resolved, That the Pacific Northwest Wool Growers’ 
Association most emphatically protests against the pass¬ 
age of said bill, and that the members of this Association 
are urged to write their Members in Congress and Sen¬ 
ators demanding that they use their efforts to defeat such 
obnoxious legislation.’’ 
The friends of oleo made great capital out of this, try¬ 
ing to show that all far western farmers were against 
honest butter. The cow has good friends yet in Montana. 
They did not fall down and whine. They waited until the 
State Horticultural Society met and then one of our read¬ 
ers, H. B. C. Colville, offered this resolution, which was 
passed—with only one lonesome negative vote: 
“Whereas, There is pending in the Senate a bill to com¬ 
pel the manufacturers of oleomargarine to pay a tax on 
their excellent product, if colored so as to allow them and 
others to sell it as the product formed by colabors of 
the dairy cow and the farmer’s wife; ana to compel them 
to sell their excellent product on its own merits or lose 
money; 
“Whereas, If said bill should become a law it would put 
a stop to a fraud that has been robbing the owner of a 
cow for years; 
“Whereas, The use of oleomargarine among stockmen 
on the plains and mountains can still be continued at the 
same rates if their tastes prefer it to good butter; 
"Whereas, We believe that the addition of coloring mat¬ 
ter to oleomargarine, if harmless and adding greatly to 
its appearance, has led away many otherwise innocent 
persons from the paths of truth to their ultimate dam¬ 
nation; 
“Whereas, The proposed legislation is beneficial, moral, 
much wanted by producers and consumers of butter 
whose numbers are millions: 
“Resolved, That the Horticultural Society of Montana, 
the farmers attending the institute, and their friends and 
relatives here assembled, emphatically protest against the 
resolutions of the Wool Growers’ .association lately adopt¬ 
ed at Helena on this subject; that the members and others 
here present be requested to write their Senators urging 
them to support the bill placing a tax on oleomargarine 
colored to represent pure butter; and that the secretary 
be ordered to forward a copy of this resolution to Mon¬ 
tana Senators in Washington.” 
That's what you may call business! The combination of 
apple and cow pulled the wool olf the eyes of the sheep 
men. There were over 500 persons present at this meeting. 
As a matter of fact the fat stock interests of Montana 
are being rapidly supplanted by fruit growers and general 
farmers. Good for the Montana farmer! 
Quick Gardening in Cuba. 
R. N.-Y. readers may be Interested to hear from our 
garden (see page 103), 29 days from planting. The peas, 
Nott’s Excelsior, stand 10 to 12 inches, and are in blos¬ 
som. The beans. Black Wax, are nearly the same height, 
and almost ready to blossom. The Lima beans, Early 
Jersey, are in poorer soil near the fence, and have not 
grown as fast as I expected; the tendrils now reach two 
feet from the ground. The tomatoes are 3% inches high, 
with a spread of six inches. The lettuce leaves are 2% 
inches broad. The onions have made a growth of six 
inches above the ground. We had our first mess of rad¬ 
ishes, Early Scarlet Turnip, 21 days from the time of 
planting, and have had them almost every day since, 
almost as tender and juicy as strawberries. The thin¬ 
nings of the beets have given us one mess of greens. 
The egg plant and some of the lettuce next to the Lima 
beans have made a poor growth. Several other irregular¬ 
ities in growth make me think that our garden is much 
less fertile in some places than in others, and needs fer¬ 
tilizers. I expect to get the street-sweepings of the city 
for this purpose. elmer e. hubbard. 
Cardenas, Cuba, 
