576 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



got up and said he was Diiich interested in what the j^entleman from 

 New York said on ''Good Eoads," but, he said, "I don't tliink much 

 of what he said about brakes on wagons, because I think he is a 



])oor horse that cannot keep out of the Avay of a wagon in 



going down hill." 



This afternoon I am to speak to you on the subject of Orcharding 

 and the Propagation of Trees. I do not know of a more important 

 subject. We have been planting millions of fruit trees in the past 

 few years, particularly of apple trees, and we are still planting apple 

 and other fruit trees by the millions, and yet, never in the history 

 of apple culture, have apples been so high as at the present time. 

 We have seen a Avonderful increase in the planting of fruit trees, 

 and yet fruit is practically out of the reach of hundreds of thousands 

 of our people w^ho should have it. In 189G the apple crop of the 

 United States was something like 68,000,000 barrels, and we have 

 never produced anything like it since. Our general yearly pro- 

 duction runs from '23,000,000 to 45,000,000 barrels. Now, why is 

 this so with all the extensive tree planting; why is there not an in- 

 creased yield all over the United States? I believe one reason is 

 that we have not given as much thought to the propagation of our 

 trees as we should. 



I can take you through orchards in New York state, and show 

 you numbers of trees there that produce very little, and some years 

 nothing at all. They simply cumber the ground, and thus the propa- 

 gation of fruit trees becomes one of the most important subjects 

 before our growers to-day. 



Now, why should there such a different in the production of trees? 

 Simply because there is in all plant life the same variation in pro- 

 ductivity that we find in animal life. Every farmer here this after- 

 noon, who may be a live stock breeder, will understand that. In 

 his breeding of animals he discovers much variation. It is very 

 seldom that you can breed from the same stock a number of colts 

 that, when grown, will be of the same type. It is seldom that you 

 can breed along the dairy line, two heifers from the same stock that 

 will give an equal yield in milk and butter. It is this law of variation 

 that makes it so difficult to produce in animals anything like uni- 

 formity, and in fruit trees this same law of variation is at work, 

 hence we do not get uniform results in our orchards. 



Now, my suggestion is this: I believe it is possible for us to get 

 more uniform results in our orchard practice, if we study the stock 

 from which we take our scions. In nursery practice, seedling stocks 

 are used, and then we take the buds from the young trees in the 

 nursery and put them on these seedling stocks. What is the result? 

 We are grafting on our trees scions that have simply a vegetative 

 tendency. It takes the Northern Spy, in New York state from 

 fifteen to twenty years to come into bearing. I can show you trees 

 that have borne no fruit in twenty years, and I firmly believe that 

 by exercising the principle of selection, we can produce a high 

 quality of fruit in a much shorter time. We need to take our scions 

 from the more mature trees. There are choice varietias of Spitzen- 

 >erg, Jonathan, Grimes' Golden — all very fine apples. Why don't 

 we have more of them? Because they are not strong trees or vig- 

 orous bearers. The King of Tompkins County is another choice 



