THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
21 
Winfield Nursery Company, Winfield, Kansas, bears 
directly on this subject. The Y-S Nursery of Sunnyside, 
Washington, are establishing improvement work along 
the same line. This is all most commendable. There is, 
however, some confusion in the minds of growers over the 
use of the term “breeding,” and the letter which follows is 
intended to present our position on this question. We do 
not wish in the smallest way possible to disparage the good 
work of our friends the nurserymen, but it is just as well at 
the outset to discriminate between what is true breeding 
and what is actual selection work. 
When the nurseryman discovers an improved strain of 
Jonathan or Winesap, he perpetuates and multiplies it by 
grafting and budding. His work is selection plus multi¬ 
plication. When the nurseryman applies the pollen of one 
variety of apple to the pistil of another, secures fruit, saves 
seed of this fruit, plants it, and from it secures an improved 
variety, he has bred this one, and his work is true plant 
breeding. In the first instance, he is selecting his variety, 
in the second, he is breeding it. Selection may come after¬ 
wards, but breeding is the prime requisite. Let us hope 
that this good work will go on, not only in the plots of the 
experiment station, but in the nurseries and orchards of the 
plant grower. Our correspondent, the Winfield Nursery, 
was written on this subject in the following strain: 
“Your attractive pamphlet entitled “Progressive Horti¬ 
culture,” has reached our desk. We have looked this 
over with much interest, and congratulate you on promoting 
an important line of nursery development. There is one 
point, however, which ought to be made clear, namely, that 
in taking scions from individual trees which possess desir¬ 
able characteristics, we are not breeding in the full and 
proper sense of the word; we are simply propagating 
selected strains. The act of propagation does not usually 
improve, it merely perpetuates. This is the law of asexual 
propagation. In breeding, we combine varieties sexually, 
and by the laws of breeding may improve a variety, that is 
get something better by combining the parents, or on the 
other hand, may secure an offspring with the less desirable 
characteristics of the parents perpetuated. Our point is 
that the word “breeding” should be associated with the 
breeding process, which combines individuals, and not 
with such selecting processes, however important, which 
you are apparently practicing, which merely multiplies 
individuals of desirable character. 
The selection process is certainly a meritorious and 
desirable practice, and orchardists, as well as nurserymen, 
should give heed to those favorable variations which occur 
from time to time in orchard and nursery. Of course, it is 
not always safe to say that a given variation as expressed 
by improved color or increased size in a Baldwin, Spy, or 
Greening tree, will be faithfully reproduced when prop¬ 
agated by grafting and budding; for such a variation 
may be due to immediate environment, as favorable soil or 
abundance of plant food. But we can afford to ‘take a 
chance’ on this, and it is probable that the number of suc¬ 
cesses will much more than repay us for the labor involved. 
Therefore, our unswerving advice is to progress in this line 
as well as in the true line of breeding by sexual method, so 
that progress in fruit culture shall constantly be forward 
and upward. It is most gratifying to note the fact that 
nurserymen in the country are focusing their attention 
upon this fundamentally important subject. 
Nurserymen will sympathize with the 
THE BENJAMIN Benjamin Chase Company in the heavy 
CHASE COM- loss which .visited their firm about the 
PANY MILL middle o'f December in the burning of 
BURNED their mill. John C. Chase is such a 
constant and useful attendant at nursery 
conventions, and is so well versed in nurserymen’s problems, 
that he has long been regarded as one of the fraternity. 
The fire occurred on Sunday, the eleventh of December, and 
had made such headway before discovery that control was 
impossible. The main building of the plant was 85 by 40 
feet, four stories high, and to this was attached a wing 
40 by 30, three stories high, and another 20 by 18, two 
stories. In the mill was stored a large quantity of kiln- 
dried lumber of first quality pine and cypress. More than 
a hundred thousand feet of this quality of lumber was 
destroyed, in addition to a large amount of the finished 
product. This plant was undoubtedly the best equipped 
mill and largest of its kind in the United States. The 
loss, partly covered by insurance, is heavy, but the com¬ 
pany began plans for rebuilding the following morning, and 
we trust that by the time this note reaches our readers, the 
new building will be well under way. 
MATRIMONIAL 
Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Newhall announce the marriage 
of their daughter Hazel, to Mr. William Harvey Stark 
on Thursday, the twenty-second of December, one thous¬ 
and nine hundred and ten, Glencoe, Illinois. 
The groom is a son of President W. P. Stark of the 
American Association of Nurserymen and a graduate of 
Cornell University. After a stay of a few days in New 
York the young couple took steamer for the West Indies, 
expecting to return via Florida to their home in Louisiana, 
Mo., about February ist, 1911. 
[Concluded from p . 7] 
The above are all by The MacMillan Company of New 
York. They may be obtained through this office. 
We would also recommend “The American Apple 
Orchard,” by Waugh, as giving a view of conditions and 
methods outside the irrigated section. This costs about 
$1.00, and is published by the Orange Judd Company of 
New York. In addition to these, if the nurseryman can 
afford it, he should by all means purchase a copy of the 
“Cyclopedia of American Horticulture,” also published by 
the Macmillan Company of New York, and edited by L. H. 
Bailey. This work is mentioned above. 
Enclosed please find $1.00 cash to apply on subscription to 
National Nurseryman for one, year. We arc starting a nursery 
here and think we will surely need this magazine. Kindly receipt 
and oblige, yours very truly, Cope Brothers, 58 Vine St. Salem, O. 
