STATE HORTICULTUBAL SOCIETY. 13 



those taken from a tender tree. We are told that the root has no 

 influence on the tree, but as we cannot grow a tree without the root, 

 I am unwilling to believe that it does not affect its health and 

 longevity. 



Mr, Murtfeldt — Many years ago I was a resident of Illinois when 

 I attended these meetings quite regularly. ♦This discussion brings 

 to my mind the meeting at Peoria, where these very questions came 

 up. A very severe winter had killed many of the grafted trees, and 

 the question of planting seedlings was seriously discussed. It now 

 seems to be generally understood that the character of the tree is 

 fixed by the scion and that the root has little or no controlling 

 influence. 



Mr. Dennis — In the animal kingdom we find imperfect individ- 

 uals among the best breeds. So in the vegetable kingdom. But will 

 the seed from an apple that has been stung by an insect and thereby 

 made one-sided and imperfect, be less suitable for planting than seed 

 from a perfect specimen ? Graft a thousand Duchesse on a thou- 

 sand different roots and they will all be Duchesse. 



Mr. Minkler — We expect too much of our orchards. We seed 

 them to blue grass and make a pasture of them and expect them to 

 produce fruit. Examine the ground after a rain and you will find 

 that it is wet but an inch or two; but go to the cultivated field and 

 it is wet deeply. Don't plant too many varieties; don't plant Rus- 

 sians, but plant intelligently and cultivate carefully and you will 

 grow as good fruit as you did twenty years ago. 



Mr. Vaughan — The last reports of our Society may be compared 

 to the Lamentations of -Jeremiah, as they are a record of disappoint- 

 ments and losses. And we should carefully look for the cause of 

 these failures and losses. Mr. Augustine says seedlings are not 

 always hardy, as he has lost thousands of them in his nursery. 

 This is all true, but I have eaten apples from trees over fifty years 

 old and think that seed from this fruit will produce a better tree 

 than from that grown- on a short lived tree. 



