BURKAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY. 183 



in Kansas; and correspondinir lots from Vermont, Pennsylvania, 

 and various other sources. These seedlings are all being grown 

 at the Bell station and their development carefully observed. Seed- 

 lings of some of our commercial varieties of apples produced an ap- 

 I)arently satisfactory typo of stock for commercial purposes, but there 

 is a very wide variation in the characto?" of the seedlings of the differ- 

 ent varieties. The development of this fact may have an important 

 bearing on sources of seed in this country for use in the growing of 

 stocks. Possibly, however, the most important development and the 

 one that promises to have the most far-reaching effect on the whole 

 stock situation is the comparative readiness with which many 

 varieties can be propagated from root cuttings. Apple-root cut- 

 tings as a rule send up several sprouts, and by mounding up the 

 sprouts as they grow an abundance of roots develops from each 

 sprout. After these have rooted they can be separated from the 

 original root cutting, lined out in the nursery row, and grown inde- 

 pendently. These shoots develop rapidly, and there appears to be 

 no reason why they can not be handled just as seedling stocks are 

 liandled so far as their use in propagating apples is concerned. In 

 this way the original root cuttings can be continued year after year 

 as a source of new sprouts. This method of propagation also has 

 promise as a means of propagating apple varieties directly on their 

 own roots. 



This method of vegetative propagation is r, ceiving possibly more 

 attention than any other one feature of the stock investigations be- 

 cause of its promise for the industry. 



ROSE-STOCK EXPERIMENTS. 



The Yuv of investigation with apple stocks is being followed on a 

 limited scale with other fruits. It is also being employed in the rose- 

 stock investigations as well as in a limited way with orange stocks. 

 In the rose-stock work some of the stocks in common use are being 

 grown and used in propagation for comparison, but there is much 

 promis > in some species that have not heretofore been used in rose 

 propagation. These are represented by species and varieties of roses 

 brought together by the late Dr. Walter Van Fleet. Of these new 

 stocks which look especially promising there may be mentioned the 

 following: 



Rosa mtdtifora cathayensis, a very hardy rose of the niultiflora 

 typ\ which propagates readily from softwood and hardwood cut- 

 tings and develops a very vigorous root system; Rosa odorata. intro- 

 duced from China by the OfRce of Foreign Seed and Plant Intro- 

 duction, which propagates readily by softwood and hardwood cut- 

 tings; Rosa soideana^ introduced from northern Chosen (Korni). 

 which can be propagated from seed which germinates the first year 

 and also from softwood cuttings. 



Other stocks which look promising are a setigera-wichiiraiana 

 hybrid of Doctor Van Fleet which propagates readilv from soft- 

 wood cuttings, a jacMi-vjichuraiana hybrid, Rosa mvltiiiora poly- 

 antha, and a vigorous-growing type of Rosa midtiflora. In addi- 

 tion to these promising new stocks, the experiment will include 

 stocks which are now in use commercially, namely, manetti. canina, 



25684— AGR 1923 13 



