For anyone who cares to work with the
precautions prescribed by science, a wide field is here open for
investigation, because old reverted branches may be met with much less
rarely than new ones.
Finally the possibility is always to be considered that the tendency to
bud-reversions may be a special feature of some individuals, and may not
be met with in others of the same variety. I have spoken of this before.
For the practical student it indicates that a specimen, once observed to
produce atavistic buds, may be expected to do the same thing again. And
then there is a very good chance that by combining this view with the
idea that dormant buds are more apt to revert than young ones, we may
get at a method for further investigation, if we recur to the practice
of pruning. By cutting away the young twigs in the vicinity of dormant
buds, we may incite these to action. Evidently we are not to expect that
in so doing they will all become atavistic. For this result is not at
all assured; on the contrary, all that we might hope to attain would be
the possibility of some of them being induced to sport in the desired
direction.
Many questions in scientific research can only [184] be answered by long
and arduous work in well equipped laboratories; they are not to be
attempted by every one.
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