Pres. Davidson: I think Dr. MacDaniels' question is still not answered. I do think that if a nurseryman sells a seedling he ought to definitely _say that it is a seedling_ and not merely that it is a "blight-resistant chestnut," or something of that sort. He should actually tell the public what he is selling.
Now, then, there seem to be reasons why in some instances a man is justified in planting seedlings when it comes to Chinese chestnuts, but when it comes to the black walnut or filbert or some of these other things, they are still selling seedlings without labelling them as such. I think we should be on record against that practice, because it takes us five or six years, or ten years sometimes, to find out that we have been gypped, and it is so easy to gyp the public when you can't find out about it any sooner than that.
Mr. O'Rourke: I quite agree with Mr. Davidson that the nurserymen should state that a seedling is a seedling when it is a seedling. And I am sure Mr. Hirschi will corroborate that the American Association of Nurserymen is exerting all the influence they can to that end. Is that right, Mr. Hirschi?
Mr. Bregger: I would like to ask, if planters for some years yet will have to rely on seedlings, is there a chance that from certain parents or certain varieties we can get a larger percentage of good seedlings than from others? How much has it been studied and is there a known result from the parent trees in the percent of what their seedlings can do?
Dr. Crane: I wish I could answer that one. It is a matter of time, to find out the seedling characteristics reproduced by a certain descendant. But we know that there is a difference in _uniformity_ of trees in the way they grow, but as far as bearing is concerned, and the type of nut produced, we haven't had enough time yet.
It's just like this: We have made selections for rootstocks in which we have selected trees that were good, strong and vigorous--the most vigorously growing trees that we have known about, and yet at the same time produced a small nut or medium-sized nut that we could use for the production of rootstocks. And we have made progress on that, and we have demonstrated that there is a very marked difference between the graftability or budability of seedlings from certain parent trees. We have demonstrated that some varieties are much easier to propagate than are others. But as for the proper combinations of stock and scion, we still haven't got enough data to recommend any. We know that there are differences, but it is going to take quite a long while, at least four or five years or more, before we know.