380 Agricultural Experiment Station, Ithaca, N. Y. 



that the fruit may be larger, and that it shall mature a little 

 earlier. These are results which naturally follow from the abun- 

 dance of the food supply. 



The girdling of trees has been considered in connection with 

 dwarfing because the two subjects appear to be closely con- 

 nected. The results of checking the flow of sap are very pro- 

 nounced in girdled trees. Figure 117 represents a union of a 

 Fallawater apple upon the dwarf Paradise stock. The stock was 

 budded about 22 years ago, and an enormous swelling has been 



117. — Union of Fallawater apple upon Paradise stock. The swelliny:, in which the knife is 

 placed, is of the cion. The earth is removed in order to show the malformation. 



formed at the point of union. The slow growth of the stock, as 

 compared with that of the cion, prevents the free passage of sap 

 from the foliage to the roots. The stock in such cases may be 

 said to form an obstruction to the descending sap, much as the 

 wire does upon improperly labeled trees. If in spite of such an 

 obstacle, the roots receive all the prepared sap which they re- 

 quire, the tree should prove to be ver}^ fruitful. 



Dwarfing a tree is done primarily for the purpose of growing 

 a certain variety of fruit upon a slow-growing stock so that the 

 top may never attain its normal size. Other things being equal, 

 this dwarfing need not necessaril}- cause it to be more precocious 

 or more fruitful. Yet dwarf trees do, as a rule, bear earlier than 



