238 Nebraska State Horticultural Society. 



have succeeded far enough only to form an unstable graft that would 

 break apart sooner or later and generally before the end of a year. 



Again, it is often quite impracticable to obtain a good union be- 

 tween members of the same family. The rose family, to which most of 

 our central western fruits belong, is divided into sub-families or tribes, 

 and it is found unnatural for the members of one tribe to graft with 

 another tribe or sub-family. For instance, the apple and pear, which 

 belong to one tribe of the rose family, will not unite with the plum, 

 peach or cherry, which belong to another tribe or tribes of the rose 

 family. In other words, you cannot graft successfully the stone fruits 

 with the pome fruits. It is still more impracticable to graft any of 

 these fruits upon the most of our common forest trees, which belong 

 to widely different families. The successful propagator goes still further 

 than this, in that he finds it to his interests to study the common likes 

 and dislikes for each other among the various members of the same 

 family. For instance, the peach and plum are very commonly grafted 

 or budded back and forth upon each other. There are certain varieties 

 of these fruits, however, that are found to be better adapted to each 

 other than another, and it is for the nurseryman or horticulturist to 

 discover these varieties that "work" best together. 



The peach is a desirable and appropriate stock for certain varieties 

 of the plum, but there are certain varieties that do not form a perfect 

 and lasting union with the peach. I remember at the time the Hawkeye 

 plum was first introduced, of buying about ten of the trees at $1 each. 

 They were budded on the peach and were fine, thrifty trees as come 

 from the hands of the nurseryman. I set them out in the orchard ex- 

 pecting quick and desirable returns from them. They had stood hardly 

 two years in the orchard before they began to show signs of weakness — 

 they began to look runty. I dug them out one by one and found a lack 

 of congeniality between the top and the root. They were like some 

 people we hear so often about — perhaps know some of them — who get 

 married on sight, and after a few months or at most a few years, they 

 find a remedy for their uncongenial alliance in the divorce courts. 



The practice that prevails to quite an extent among our nursery- 

 men of propagating these uncongenial varieties upon each other is done 

 fore the mere sake of gain, or in other words the trees, Hodges' razors, 

 "are made to sell." And this reminds me, too, that the man or woman 

 who marries for the sake or sordid gain or position meets with a fate 

 similar to these same razors. 



THE PECAN TREE. 



There has been considerable interest aroused among our tree men in 

 Nebraska regarding this nut-bearing tree. It has been advertised in 



