2.34 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
will liiul that most grade's ])i'()vide lor a dilTcrenre ol' 2-16 
the same as our standard does. They do, ho^^ever, start 
with a higher ealiper exeej)t on Ouinee. It would he just 
as easy lor them to use our standard starting with 11-16 
and up grade. One of the leading fruit tree growers 
among the Ualifoi'nia nurserymeji wrote me he thought 
the Ualifornia Nurserymen’s Assoeiation would ado])t our 
standard of grading. One eastern firm wrote as follows: 
“We see no reason in making 5-8 grade when we grade 
11-16. We reeommend either grading of fruit trees 7-16, 
9-16 and 11-16, or else go haek to the old standard of 1-2, 
5-8 and 3-4”. 
In our husiiiess we have been using the revised stand¬ 
ards for two years now on all fruit trees exce})t apple, 
and have found where grading was fully up to the stand¬ 
ard provided in the table, our grades have given geneial 
satisfaction. The standard adoi)ted on fruit trees elim¬ 
inates one grade, ])rovides definite standard of height and 
uniform system for all varieties standard fruit trees. 
Also a definite standard of ealiiier for dwarf trees, hut 
does not specify height, although the table states height 
should he given on dwarf trees in listing. 
Your committee thinks the standards as adpoted last 
year have proved remarkably satisfactory, and we recom¬ 
mend that they he continued. 
There are many other features of the horticultural 
standards that should be presented at a later convention, 
for there are many things of value that are not being 
generally used. 
Our wmrthy president, Mr. Harlan P. Kelsey, deserves 
most of the credit for the horticultural standards that 
have been develofied. The time and energy he has given 
this work should he appreciated and recognized. 
Very respectfully submitted. 
E. S. WELCH, Chairman. 
E. H. SMITH 
E. P. BERNAUDIN. 
PIU toil ESS IN BUD SELECTION 
By F. W. Anderson, President of Nurserymen's Bud 
Selection Association of California 
The Nurserymen’s Bud Selection Association at their 
annual meeting at Fresno authorized two ste])s meaning 
much to the future of the fruit-growing industry of 
California: 
1. The sale of selected buds to all nurserymen and 
fruit growei's. 
2. Tlie certilicalion of nursery trees by means of a 
permanent seal attached to each tree. 
When the association was first organized in 1920, Dr. 
J. C. Whitten, Dean of Horticulture of the University of 
California, stated that the Bud Selection organization w as 
the most imjiorlant movement ever made for the advance¬ 
ment of California horticulture. 
Four seasons of intense observational woi'k follow'ed 
in the best orchards in all imjiortant fruit regions of 
California. In addition to siqijilying buds to the mem¬ 
bers, high producing trees of each variety w^ere selected 
as “Mother trees” and each of these supplied buds to 
to])work one row^ in the budw ood orchard established at 
Brentwood in Contra Costa County. Thirty acres with 
approximately 4,()()0,0()() seedlings had been set aside 
for the ])urpose during the preceding season. 
Peaches were budded on apricot stocks, almonds on 
jieaches, and in similar manner each kind on a root of a 
different species, making it impossible for a shoot from 
below" the bud being mistaken for the variety. 
The young trees are making excellent growth and it is 
calculated that around live million buds w ill be available 
for distribution during this summer. After this summer, 
it will probably be possible to supply not less than* 
twenty million buds annually. 
This orchard, grown for budwood only, will furnish 
a supjily adequate for all nurserymen and growers, 
(ii’owers have alw ays w anted to know' wdiere buds w hich 
grew into the trees they were buying came from. In 
the jiast nurserymen could not ])oint them out for the 
simjile reason that ('ach variety came from several hun¬ 
dred trees in an orchard. 
A brief history w ill give the reasons for this condition. 
Long before recorded history, fruit trees were grown 
from seed and since they did not come true to type, the 
best w"ere multiplied by various methods of budding and 
grafting. Through all the ages buds have been selected 
each year and the common experience of all on which the 
whole nursery industry is based is that buds rejiroduce 
faithfully all the characters of the tree from w"hich they 
came. They are literally “Chips off the old block.” 
All students of horticulture recognize that occasionally 
breaks occur, and mutations, commonly called bud sports 
occur, resulting in a tree that is different in one or more 
particulars. Usually these variations which are perman¬ 
ent, are undesirable but occasionally as in the cases of 
the Bed Gravenstein and Bed Spy apples are valuable. 
Before the age of specialization when each fruit grow¬ 
er propagated his owui trees selecting the buds from his 
own best trees, results w'ere entirely satisfactory. With 
specialization, four sejiarate groups came into being, one 
grow ing trees, another jiroducing fruit, a third market¬ 
ing it, and finally the consumer. Each knows little of the 
problems of the other. 
At first the jiropagator, no longer a fruit growler as a 
rule, obtained buds from his neighbors orchards. Some 
continued to grow" variety orchards. Further speciliza- 
tion resulted in each district grow ing only a few" varieties 
that did best under their local conditions. This com- 
jielled the nurserymen either to send to various outside 
sources for his budw"ood or cut it from adjoining nursery 
rows. 
A careful man is the best safety device” and it w"as no 
longer jiossible for each local nurseryman to personally 
attend to this most important work in propagation. Re¬ 
sults were decidedly unsatisfactory. 
In Californa, it reached the ])oint where different nur¬ 
serymen offered five different varieties of poaches under 
the name “Tuscan”, the same number as “Orange Clings” 
and numerous varieties as “Pedigreed” prunes. Neces¬ 
sity, as usual, conqiellcd organization and coojieration. 
To avoid alt possibility of error the sealing must be done 
while the leaves are still on the trees and nurservmen 
will only undertake the expense if there is a recognized 
demand. 
