Cornell Uniyersity, Ithaca, N. Y., May 11, 1896. 

 Honorable Cormnissioner of Agriculture^ Albany. 



Sir. — The interest in dwarf pears continues to be unabated in 

 this State, and one of the questions which comes to us very fre- 

 quently is a request for information as to why dwarf apples may 

 not also be a source of profit. Unfortunately, we are unable to 

 answer these questions from any American experience, for dwarf 

 apples have been grown in this country chiefly as single or speci- 

 men trees and not in plantations of commercial extent; and even 

 as specimen trees, they are comparatively little known. Yet the 

 inquiry concerning them is so great that we have thought it wise 

 to collect and publish as much as possible of the scattered experi- 

 ences of New York people. The Experiment Station Extension 

 Law, under the auspices of which this bulletin is published, has 

 for one of its leading objects, as we interpret it, the collecting 

 and publication of the very valuable experiences of horticul- 

 turists in the Fifth Judicial Department of the state, which 

 experiences are commonly lost to the public, but which are in- 

 trinsically as valuable as similar work which may be taken up by 

 the station. In fact, they may be more valuable. The law is 

 designed to promote the spread of information amongst the horti- 

 culturists of its territory. Its motive is distinctly educational. 

 We have, therefore, no hesitation in presenting this average of 

 experiences as a bulletin, even though it is not all founded upon 

 experiments actually made at the station at Ithaca. To wait for 

 the maturing of experiments would mean the delay of publication 

 and a refusal to satisfy inquiry for several years to come. The 

 reader must bear in mind, however, that we make no recom- 

 mendation respecting the setting of dwarf apples for commercial 

 purposes. We have simply given the gist of what evidence we 

 have been able to collect in a two years' inquiry, and the reader 

 must draw his own conclusions. The present writer has been 

 more or less familiar with dwarf apples for twenty years, and 

 has known some good commercial results to be obtained; but he 

 is of the opinion that if dwarf apples are to be planted at all for 

 market they should comprise only those varieties which are 

 suitable for a very fancy or dessert trade. 



The bulletin is submitted for publication under Chapter 230 of 

 the Laws of 1895. 



L. H. BAILEY. 



