The National Nurseryman. 
FOR GROWERS AND DEALERS IN NURSERY STOCK. 
Copyright, 1898, by th« Nationil Nur«»ryman Publishing Co. 
Vol. VI. ROCHESTER, N. Y., AUGUST. 1898. No. 7. 
IMPROVING VARIETIES. 
The Importance of Bud Selection in Plant Breeding—No Two 
Buds or Fruits Are Exactly Alike—Definite Laws of Horti¬ 
culture Should Be Observed —/4s To Seedlings. 
An instructive paper on the application of plant breeding 
through bud selection to the improvement of varieties was 
read by G. H. Powell, horticulturist of the Delaware Experi¬ 
ment Station at the tenth annual meeting of the Peninsula 
Horticultural Society at Milford, Del. In the course of his 
paper he said : 
Every bud on a tree produces an offspring which can be 
distinguished from every other offspring, just as every seed¬ 
ling. The distinction between a seedling variety and the 
fiuits produced on a single tree lies only in the degree of 
difference between them. The reason for this is that no two 
trees or no two buds on a tree exist in exactly the same con¬ 
ditions of life. The tree should be considered not as a single 
individual, but as a collection of individuals, with the bud as 
the unit. Among the many individuals, or buds, on the tree 
there is the most intense struggle for existence. Some buds 
receive more light, more air, more room in which to grow and 
expand, and more plant food, and from these unequal condi¬ 
tions there result strong branches, weak branches, long 
branches, short branches, dead branches. In fact, no two 
branches are ever alike because no two are placed in exactly 
the same conditions. 
In the same way, no two fruits are ever produced exactly 
alike because the buds from which they came and the condi¬ 
tions in which they develop are always slightly different. So 
it happens that in an Elberta peach tree, the fruits will be 
large or small, roundish or pointed, highly colored or pale, or 
some other peculiarity distinguishes one peach from every 
other peach. 
This variation existing in the buds of a tree is one of the 
most important principles underlying all vegetable life, and is 
particularly important in horticultural operations, because the 
variations which are manifest in the buds of a plant are trans¬ 
mitted through propagation. 
BEARING TREES. 
I need not go into extended reasoning to convice you that 
variation does exist in the buds of a tree, or in trees them¬ 
selves. You have only to go out into an apple orchard and 
examine the different branches or trees. The practical fruit 
grower knows that some trees never bear, that some trees 
occasionally bear, and that some trees always bear. Further, 
if he were to examine the branches of a single tree through a 
series of years, he would find the same phenomenon pertaining 
to individual branches. 
I have in mind a currant plantation which contains some 
ten thousand Fay’s Prolific bushes, which came directly or 
indirectly through cuttings from 25 Fays, purchased at $1 
each some ten or twelve years ago. The original bushes were 
uniform in size and heavy bearers. As the Fay currant was 
one of the best varieties extant twelve years ago, and the plants 
were scarce, the cheapest way to secure a plantation was to 
take cuttings from a few bushes. In the haste for a large 
number of plants, the new wood was cut from these bushes 
every fall. When more bushes were established, they were 
divided into cuttings as fast as new wood was made. Little 
attention was paid to the bearing capacity of the bushes, in 
the second generation, from which the cuttings were taken, 
because the original twenty-five were exceptionally heavy 
bearers. The result at the present time is 12,000 Fays, some 
of which are tremendous bearers, others light bearers, while 
still others produce no fruit at all. 
A REASON GIVEN. 
The question arises, how could this condition have happen¬ 
ed if there is not the widest variation in bearing tendencies in 
the buds of the Fay’s currant ? It may be answered that the 
soil in which the plants grew was the immediate cause of these 
wide variations in the Fay plantation. But this is not true as 
the soil is uniform and in a high state of culture, and the Fay 
is an uncertain bearer everywhere. The explanation, it seems 
to me is not difficult to understand. When the Fay was first 
introduced every currant grower wanted Fays and it was 
necessary for the propagators to use all the available wood pro¬ 
duced, without reference to the bearing habit or constitution 
of the bushes from which the wood was taken. Now if a 
hundred cuttings are taken from a bush that seldom bears, we 
have simply started one hundred new bushes with a similar 
tendency, and if a hundred are taken from a bush that always 
bears, the bearing habit is likely to be transmitted to the new 
bushes. This reasoning is not theoretical, for I can point out 
an extensive currant grower who can maintain the standard 
of his varieties only by the most careful selection of cuttings 
from bushes that always bear. 
I wish now to point out the value of bud variations and in¬ 
dicate, if possible, a few lines which might be followed by 
horticulturists to the gradual improvement of present varie¬ 
ties. 
If the differences in the buds of a tree can be propagated by 
grafting or budding or by other means, then here is a principle 
on which to begin the systematic improvement of existing 
varieties. The propagator has only to form a clear idea of the 
type of Baldwin or Spy he desires and then to select through 
each generation buds from branches which bear Baldwins or 
Spys approaching his ideal. 
There are numerous examples of bud variations in' the vari¬ 
ous strains of Baldwins, Greenings, or Crawfords. These 
strains are simply bud variations induced by climate or other 
causes. In Virginia the Albemarle or Newtown Pippin differs 
from the New York Newtown. In Oregon the apple has slight 
ridges around the stem and the fruit is oblong in form ; while 
in New South Wales, Australia, the ridges are so pronounced 
that the apple is called the Five Crowned Pippin. 
