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THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
The National N urseryman. 
C. L. YATES, Proprietor. RALPH T. OLCOTT, Editor. 
PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY 
The National Nurseryman Publishing Co., 
305 Cox Building, Rochester, N. Y. 
The only trade journal issued for Growers and Dealers in Nursery Stock of 
all kinds. It circulates throughout the United States and Canada. 
OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF NURSERYMEN. 
SUBSCRIPTION RATES. 
One year, in advance, _____ $1.00 
Six Months, ______ .75 
Foreign Subscriptions, in advance, - - - 1.50 
Six Months, “ “ 1.00 
Advertising rates will be sent upon application. Advertisements 
should reach this office by the 20th of the month previous to the date 
of issue. 
Payment in advance required for foreign advertisements. 
pg^Drafts on New York or postal orders, instead of checks, are 
requested. 
Correspondence from all points and articles of interest to nursery¬ 
men and horticulturists are cordially solicited. 
AHERICAN ASSOCIATION OF NURSERYMEN. 
President, Wilson J. Peters, Troy, O.; vice-president. D. S. Lake, Shen¬ 
andoah, la.; secretary, George C. Seager, Rochester, N. Y.; treas 
urer, C. L. Yates, Rochester, N. Y. 
Executive Committee—Irving- Rouse, Rochester, N. Y.; C. L. Watrous, Des 
Moines, la.; E. Albertson, Bridgeport, Ind. 
Committee on Transportation—Wilson J. Peters, ex-officio, chairman ; William 
Pitkin, Rochester, N. Y.; Peter Youngers, Geneva, Neb.; A. L. Brooke, N. 
Topeka, Kan.; Robert C.Berckmans, Augusta, Ga. 
Committee on Legislation—C. L. Watrous, Des Moines, la.; N. H. Albaugh, 
Tadmor, O.: Silas Wilson, Atlantic, la.; Thomas B. Meehan, Germantown, Pa. 
Committee on Tariff—Irving Rouse, Rochester, N. Y.; J. J. Harrison, Paines- 
ville, O.; N. W. Hale, Knoxville, Tenn. 
Annual convention for 1900—Chicago Beach Hotel, June 13-14. 
Entered in the Post Office at Rochester, as second-class mail matter. 
Rochester, N. Y., October, 1899. 
SELECTION AND ITS EFFECTS. 
Too much cannot be said among nurserymen of the value of 
selection in its application to cultivated plants. Tbe effects 
of selection are marvelous, and, when one considers how much 
has been accomplished by the choice of individuals considered 
as agents of reproduction, it is a matter of wonder that greater 
attention is not given the subject by men who are in the busi¬ 
ness of improving or creating varieties. 
The recent death of Henri L. Vilmorin, the noted hybrid¬ 
izer, and the convention of hybridizers in England, are events 
that have brought the matter of selection and its effects upon 
cultivated plants again prominently before the horticultural 
world. The matter covers so broad a field that it is possible 
to touch but briefly upon its varying phases within the limit of 
a monthly publication. M. Vilmorin aptly says that the task 
of the improver of cultivated plants is not to create new species, 
but to establish and fix in known species well-defined and 
constant races possessing distinct characters which may render 
them useful or agreeable to man. 
In No. 1 of volume n of the Experiment Station Record, is 
an article on the subject of selection of plants, by M. Vilmo¬ 
rin. He shows the striking example of the variations that 
selection can develop by reference to the cultivated forms of 
Brassica oleracea, a plant native to the coasts of Western 
Europe. The simplest form of the cultivated plant is found 
in the cabbages, conical, spherical, flattened, red and green. 
Then there are the forms of headless cabbage known as kale, 
differing widely in respect to size, shape and color. The stem 
of Brassica oleracea, by selection, has been thickened to form 
a food for cattle. If, instead of affecting the entire stem, the 
swelling is localized, a little distance above the ground, the 
kohl-rabi is formed, the varieties of which are numerous, large 
or small, early or late, white or violet. The top root may be 
thickened by selection, too, and the turnip-rooted cabbage and 
ruta-baga have been formed. The floral branch of Brassica 
oleracea is very thick and when young is tender. Italian gar¬ 
deners, by a careful selection of seed created the very charac¬ 
teristic modification known as the cauliflower, in varying 
forms, early or late, white, yellow, rose, or violet, hardy, ten¬ 
der, large and small. 
It should be noted, says M. Vilmorin, that, in the various 
forms, but one organ is enlarged. If this organ is the root, the 
leaves and the petioles are proportionately diminished in size, 
and serve only as auxiliary organs to the root. It is very diffi¬ 
cult in general to develop two orgaus at the same time, to any 
great degree, in the same plant. 
If plants did not vary there could be no selection. Every 
modification that a plant shows is not necessarily worth fixing. 
M. Vilmorin’s entire article is highly interesting to a student 
of horticulture. Up to the present time, says M. Vilmorin, 
selection has been applied particularly to annuals or biennials, 
plants in which generations follow each other rapidly. Under 
the management of corporate bodies it could be applied to 
forest trees. And the selection of buds from bearing trees, 
as well as choice specimens, is being urged in the propagation 
of fruit trees. 
In his series of essays on the survival of the unlike, Profes¬ 
sor L. H. Bailey cites many interesting cases of his observation 
of the behavior of plants under the hand of man. Intensely 
interesting, also, to any worker in horticulture, is Professor 
Bailey’s sketch of the evolution of our native fruits. 
The role of selection has been of the greatest importance in 
the past; it will continue so in the future. Every nurseryman 
must, perforce, be a better nurseryman after a study of the 
writers named and other authors upon kindred subjects. 
AGE OF APPLE TREES. 
The question as to whether it is better to plant one-year-old 
or two-year-old apple trees has been at times quite thoroughly 
discussed in our columns by some of the most prominent horti¬ 
culturists of the Northwest. The question has been recently 
taken up by the Western Fruit Grower of St. Joseph, Mo. It 
has obtained and published the opinions of many prominent 
fruit growers, nurserymen and others on the subject, but there 
is nothing like an agreement of opinion on the question. 
