258 TRANSACTIONS OF THE HORTICULTURAL 



rienced by orcliardists and nurserymen of the Northwest. Well 

 nigh wearied out with the far-too-often-recurring reverses, some of us 

 seem almost ready to accept the list of one of our Wisconsin friends 

 for an orchard of one hundred trees, namely, ninety-nine Duchess 

 and one Duchess of Oldenburg. Not much of an assortment. But 

 hold on. Things are not near as bad as they might be. The trouble 

 has been and is, that we are not willing to suit our methods of prop- 

 agation to the climate, but expect the climate to come around to our 

 notions, and that perhaps we may not have such a severe winter for 

 many years, and all will go nicely for a while. Well let us see. On 

 the 5th of January, 1884, the thermometer registered from 35° to 

 38° below zero in different parts of Northern Illinois; pretty tough 

 for that mild winter we expected. No, friends, we must be prepared 

 for the Avorst if we ever expect to succeed. 



The prospect would indeed be discouraging enough were it not 

 for the fact that numerous experiments, made in different localities 

 by earnest, searching, and determined men, and reaching through a 

 series of over thirty-five years, with double-working or top-grafting 

 have been eminently successful in all cases where hardy, reliable 

 stocks were used. These experiments establish beyond controversy 

 that many varieties, too tender to succeed as root-grafts, may be 

 profitably grown in the greater part of our Northwest to become 

 hardy, long-lived trees, bearing better crops of finer fruits then root- 

 grafts to the same sorts. To support this statement I shall intro- 

 duce a few facts as recorded in the very instructive volumes of trans- 

 actions of the Iowa and Wisconsin Horticultural Societies, together 

 with my own observations: 



Under the head of " Root- and Top-Grafting," Prof. James 

 Matthews, of Knoxville, Iowa, furnished the horticultural society of 

 that state a paper, which appears in the transactions of said society 

 for 1879, pages 403 to 405, of which I will give a brief synopsis. 

 He introduces the problem: Are certain varieties of fruits more 

 hardy and prolific and of superior size, beauty, and flavor, when top- 

 worked upon hardij stocks, than when root-grafted in the usual way? 

 Maintaining the affirmative upon this question, he submits a state- 

 ment of a few facts for the consideration of those whose opinions 

 are adverse to his, as well as for those who have formed no definite 

 conclusions upon this subject. He says: "In April, 1872, I visited 

 the orchard of Mr. Drury Overton, near Knoxville, Iowa. This or- 

 chard contained from fifteen hundred to two thousand trees, most of 

 which were planted twenty-three and twenty-four years previous, 

 consecjuently passed the terrible winters of 1855, ^56 and '57. In 

 planting this orchard it so happened that almost every variety set 

 out was divided between root- and top-grafts, hence affording a very 

 favorable opportunity of testing the advantages and disadvantages 

 of the two modes of grafting. Mr. Overton, an old nurseryman, 

 having commenced business about thirty years ago in Henry County, 



