184 Wisconsin State Horticultural Society. 



veyed to the laboratory of digestion — the foliage — for which 

 service it receives, or should receive in return, its share of assimi- 

 lable matter for its sustenance. This it does, with no power of 

 choice, while the leaf performs the main functions of choosing or 

 rejecting, and elaborating material needed for wood and fruit. 

 Example: the pear on quince, Mountain Ash, thorn or apple; also 

 the Siberian on common apple. All these will be changed in con- 

 formation by the peculiarities of the cion, and the more congenial 

 the union the more influence the cion has in this transformation. 

 We must rely mainly upon the cion for our ultimate root, and so 

 cannot make a hardy tree 'by using a hardy stock. 



Culture, or condition of growth, has much to do with the endur- 

 ance of the tree. If we grow too fast or too late, no degree of 

 vital force can save it from the extremes of cold. If you neglect 

 culture altogether, the tree may not survive the attacks of preda- 

 tory insects. That culture which promotes an early growth with 

 early and perfect maturity of wood, is the most favorable to hardi- 

 ness. Exclusive pruning is not conducive to hardiness. 



Pruning, in its time and manner, or style, is an important fac- 

 tor here. Every bud, spur and nodule is a life-center, and the 

 more of them the more vital force in a given space, is a principle 

 of vegetable physiology. Therefore short growths are more sure 

 to be hardy, and excessive extension is not desirable where we want 

 great hardiness. I believe extra hardiness requires exactly the 

 reverse of the common mode of high tops and long, lank limbs. I 

 would sooner cut back frequently than trim up. Varieties differ 

 much in natural conformation of top. It would be safe to cut back 

 those inclined to be long-limbed, but seldom safe to cut them out 

 of one naturally bushy. No more suicidal plan of pruning can be 

 practiced than one we recently saw commended in one of our stand- 

 ard agricultural papers, viz: to " head the tree four to six feet high in 

 the nursery, and then trim up to eight feet in the orchard." This 

 practice rests upon the false notions that a tree needs cultivating 

 near its base, and that it is not worth the land it grows upon, or 

 else in fashion. I believe hardiness, health, long life, ease of cul- 

 ture, fruitfulness, care of fruit, destruction of insects, and general 

 care of orchard, would all be vastly promoted by heading low, 

 even at the ground. 



