Hayes and Garber - Cucurbit Breeding

FRUIT BREEDING 275
French prune tree which was first observed in 1904. Several
grafts from this branch were placed in bearing trees. These
grafts reproduced the characters of .the sporting branch. In
1914, trees in alternate rows of an orchard were top-worked by
the use of buds from the new strain and compared with buds from
the normal French prune variety. The top-worked trees from the
bud sport bore larger fruit than those from the normal prune.
The fruits were also more evenly distributed over the tree than
in the original French prune variety.
The above are some of the more striking instances of the production
of new varieties through the isolation of bud sports.
Crandall (1918) has made an extensive test in Illinois of the value
of bud selection in apples as a means of improving the variety.
Two distinct lines of study have been followed.
1. The value for propagating purposes of buds selected in
different ways. The experiments included a comparison of large
versus small buds, of buds from different parts of the tree and
from different locations on the shoot.
2. Selection of trees because of special merit. Comparison
of seedlings produced from large and small apples produced by
these selected trees.
A considerable number of varieties was used for the first
study and a total of 5,400 buds were selected. A careful measurement
was then made of the yearly growth of wood from the buds
which had been previously selected. Growth curves were made
and on the basis of these results the conclusion was reached that
all buds from healthy shoots were of equal value for propagation
purposes.
The characters of seedlings grown from seeds of large and
small fruits borne on trees of special merit were carefully studied.
Seeds from large fruits produced seedlings which were somewhat
more resistant to adverse conditions than seedlings grown from
small fruits. The hypothesis that this may be explained by the
fact that large fruits and large seeds frequently occur from crosses,
seems reasonable in the light of the work of Lewis and Vincent
previously cited.
Stewart (1912) has discussed the value of cion selection in treefruit
improvement. Individual apple tree data over a period of
from ten to fourteen years were presented. Under apparently the
same conditions some trees were consistently higher yielders
than others. A review of considerable experimental evidence led