1911. 
WHAT ABOUT PEDIGREED TREES? 
Extract from a Nurseryman’s Letter. 
For fear you do not fully appreciate the value of our 
“highbred” trees, we wish to say, owing to this work of 
breeding up, every one of our trees will produce fruit of 
the very best in color, flavor, size, shape and keeping 
quality, and the trees will be hardy, early and prolific 
bearers. They are bred up for this purpose, just as a 
race horse is bred up for speed. There is just as much 
difference in value of our trees over those not bred up as 
there is difference in value of pedigreed and scrub animals. 
The practice is becoming quite common among 
nurserymen to select scions or buds from orchards 
having considerable reputation, with the assumption 
that trees so propagated will, when they come into 
bearing, display the same characteristic for which the 
parent orchards have become noted. This is 
usually the production of heavy crops of fruit, 
or at least the addition of dollars to the owner’s 
bank account. One nurseryman of my ac¬ 
quaintance secures his propagating wood so 
far as possible from trees which have pro¬ 
duced the blue ribbon fruit exhibited at various 
fruit shows. Another sends his agents to col¬ 
lect buds from well-known fruit sections, even 
going so far as to have these agents take their 
oath that they secured them in a certain local¬ 
ity or orchard. 
As a talking point this is probably worth 
all it costs. I have sometimes held that it 
should be encouraged, inasmuch as it at least 
showed a spirit of progress. On the other 
hand, it becomes a powerful lever in the hands 
of dishonest nurserymen and dealers who arc 
willing to claim almost any virtue for their 
so-called “pedigree trees,” which may or may 
not be from selected buds, but for which they 
receive an exorbitant price. Personally I have 
yet to see any well-authenticated instance of 
improvement in fruits by means of bud selec¬ 
tion, except in the very rare cases of mutations 
or bud sports, such as, for example, the King 
grape. By this I do not mean that improve¬ 
ment of plants is impossible, for we have exam¬ 
ples of this in every improved variety. It 
must be remembered, however, that the method 
of propagating fruits is much different from 
that of most plants or the breeding of animals. 
The former are propagated vegetativelv, that 
is, by means of cuttings, or by budding, graft¬ 
ing, etc., in which the seed plays no part. The 
latter are the result of a union between the 
male and female element, and they thus com¬ 
bine—always in the case of the higher animals 
and usually in the case of plants—the charac¬ 
teristics of two individuals, whether they be 
turnips or horses. Of course fruit trees may 
be propagated by this method, but it is im¬ 
possible, or nearly so, to reproduce a variety 
by this means. Laboratory experiments have 
shown over and over again that selection with¬ 
in a vegetatively propagated species is of little 
or no avail in breeding up a new strain. 
The writer has seen apple trees of the same 
variety, propagated from the same parent tree 
in his father’s nursery, which have shown more 
variation when planted in different orchards 
in the neighborhood than he ever saw in trees 
of the same variety secured from different 
sources, but planted under identical conditions. 
This leads one to believe that soil, food ma¬ 
terials and cultural treatment have infinitely 
more to do with the behavior in fruit plants 
than does bud selection. The department of 
experimental, horticulture at this station has 
experiments under way to test this much dis¬ 
puted question, but they are not of sufficient 
duration to warrant the forming of conclusions. 
Mr. J. E. Burton of Indiana has some in¬ 
teresting facts with which you may be familiar. 
He brought together by grafting on the same 
tree, thus making the environments the same, 
a scion from a Rambo tree bearing small, 
poorly-flavored fruit, and one from a Rambo 
tree which always bore large, finely flavored 
Tt-lEJ RURAL NEW-VORKSR 
tically all variations within a variety such as in¬ 
creased fruitfulness, high color, large size, etc., are 
the result of more favorable conditions, and that in 
such cases these characters are not hereditary. 
Penn. State College. 
W. J. WRIGHT. 
GUARANTEED MACHINERY. 
Some recent articles in The R. N.-Y about paying 
for unsatisfactory machinery, when coupled with my 
own experience, tend to show that the important 
point in transactions of this kind is to return the 
machinery such as soon as found unsatisfactory. If 
the makers guarantee that the machine will give satis¬ 
faction, or if it be built to specifications, return it 
THE MULGOBA MANGO, NATURAL SIZE. Fig. 5:3 
1S5 
We got the machine, found it was not built as 
agreed, sent it back, get another, and this machine 
was not put together right, and had to go back to the 
factory. When we finally got to spraying we could 
not do good work, and the machine broke down re¬ 
peatedly, the maker sending a man from the factory 
to repair it. W r e did not get our spraying half done, 
and wrote and told the maker the machine would not 
do the work. Potato spraying time came, and we 
used the machine for this work. The maker sent 
bills and statements, claiming we did not know how 
to run the machine. We were willing to pay the 
value of the machine, as a potato sprayer, but not its 
full value, because it could not be made to spray the 
Hrge trees satisfactorily. 
Finally the maker sued in the Supreme 
Court, and though any amount of testimony 
was introduced showing the machine would 
not do the work it was guaranteed to do, and 
the guarantees both verbal and printed were 
admitted, the judge personally found a ver¬ 
dict for the plaintiff for the full amount. He 
said we had forfeited our right to protection 
under the guarantee when we did not return 
the machine as soon as we found it would not 
do the work. He said he would have allowed 
the jury to decide a question of damages had 
we introduced testimony showing to what 
extent we had been damaged, but since we 
did not introduce such testimony we were 
not entitled to anything. This verdict was a 
complete surprise to everyone in the court 
room, including both lawyers, for no one 
there understood this interpretation of the law. 
So we find we must have no consideration for 
the manufacturer’s feelings, and if the ma¬ 
chine is not as agreed, do not wait, but send 
it back at once. I made the mistake of wait¬ 
ing a long time to give him a chance to make 
the machine right. Be sure the guarantee 
protects you, for we see everything guaran¬ 
teed, but seldom do they stand a test. Go 
slowly into a so-called court of justice, for 
your idea of justice may not be the same as 
that of the particular judge before whom your 
case will be tried. The judge in this case 
showed extreme impatience with the whole 
proceeding (a small case in a big court) and 
could not even allow the jury to decide in the 
matter. victim. 
Monroe Co., N. Y. 
SECTION OF MULGOBA MANGO. Fig. 53. 
ones nder these conditions both were the same, just as soon as you find it does not came up to the 
e also conducted a similar experiment with Grimes, contract. Having about 25 acres of large and small 
a mg scions from a tree which bore heavy crops, trees, and 20 acres of potatoes to spray, we had about 
o iers rom a irimes tree of the same age which made up our minds to buy a power sprayer for trees 
scarcely bore at all. Under the same conditions the and a traction sprayer for potatoes. At this time we ..-. - -.» ~ - -- 
scions were equally fruitful. In fact, in all his ex- met a manufacturer of traction sprayers who claimed annual crops under good care and high feeding with 
perience aloner this line he Inc n P , W r , , , , . ' .... proper thinning, and the grower who wishes annual 
propagated ^Iron ceW., 6 ad 3 mach,ne that wou,d do a11 work. We c P r0 ps must k«p in mind the fact that he must 
. . c sci0ns were in any way did not feel sure this was so, but his guarantee was thin his fruit, that the trees will not stand neglect, 
penor to those propagated from unselected ones. so strong we took a machine on trial In the catalogue but must kave g°°d care an ^ feeding (and any 
Mr. J. W. Kerr of Maryland says: “In a test with made a part of this agreement, was a guarantee that u P-to-date apple grower knows what that means), 
trees propagated from a tree of Wild Goose plum this machine would be satisfactorv In the verbal ^ all . mi .^ t ,e C '\°° se varieties which grow 
that . .. c wul,JJ IJC sausiactory. in tne \ernai to perfection in Ins locality, and sell at high prices 
ANNUAL BEARING OF APPLE TREES. 
Our experience has been that those varie¬ 
ties of apples which will produce first-class 
fruit, especially in eating qualities, under high 
feeding and culture, can be made as a rule to 
produce annual crops of fruit. But apples 
which for their best development will not 
stand too high feeding and culture, of which 
the Baldwin is a good example, an apple 
which can be fed so as to injure both its eating 
and keeping qualities, cannot be so changed 
as to grow annual crops at a profit. Our best 
and highest priced fruit of that variety has 
always been on trees well loaded (not over¬ 
loaded) with fruit. Of course part of a tree 
may bear one year and the barren part the 
following year, with first-class fruit both 
years. Should we wish to grow commercially 
such apples as Baldwin and Gravenstein in 
equal amounts each year, viz., raise as near 
as possible the same amount of fruit each 
year for sale, we should try to do this by 
changing the bearing year of enough of trees, 
either by picking the small fruit early in the 
season or destroying their blossoms, and we 
believe such method would be more satisfac¬ 
tory and profitable than trying to grow an¬ 
nual crops from the whole orchard. And yet 
with the Baldwin especially I think it would 
require some care to prevent them gradually 
working back to their natural bearing year. But with 
that class of apples of which Williams is a good exam¬ 
ple, we should consider it both possible and practicable 
to raise from trees of bearing age 20 paying crops 
in as many years, natural causes not preventing. We 
have known the R. I. Greening to bear profitable 
annual crops under good care and high feeding with 
.i . , . . —mav-iiuic wuui'j ue sausiactory. in me ve 
produced fruit notably large and fine, with trees understanding the exact nature of the work to be 
- ^ 10 ™ dlc °^ ler extreme, demonstrated done w r as stated in the kind, size and amount of trees 
" r r ' y ™ | l, ” der like conditions of soil both were and potatoes to be sprayed, and the maker guaranteed 
min u C J ^° ,e ^ UmS ' ^' T ° more > no l ess -” Sum- this machine to spray these satisfactorily and better 
S aU up ’ 1 th,nk we ma y safely say that prac- .than any other sprayer on the market. 
«nvi iwzvz v v, mi mvii v »Y 
to perfection in his locality, and sell at high prices 
in the markets he would ship to. In fact, he must 
grow high-class fruit. On young trees before they 
bear heavy crops annual bearing is common even 
on Baldwins. Yet- I never picked my prize-winning 
fruit of that variety from such trees. 
Massachusetts. H. o. MEAD. 
