REPORT OF STATE BOARD OF HORTICULTURE. 131 



of scions for grafting deserves greater consideration than it 

 usually receives. What would be thought of a stockbreeder 

 who paid absolutely no attention to the individual character- 

 istics of the animals he bred from? Why, even in an ordinary 

 dairy herd, kept simply for milk, we recognize the importance 

 of individuality, and save the heifers only from the best cows. 

 And yet when it comes to plantbreeding we take scions from 

 any tree, and from any part of the tree — suckers, water- 

 sprouts, anything, so long as it is the desired variety. The 

 time has come to make a decided change in this respect, and 

 top-grafting offers the most simple remedy, since it gives an 

 opportunity for each man to select his own scions from his 

 best trees and set them in whatever stock he prefers. 



' ' That in this discussion we are treading upon ground not 

 quite so fully understood as some other fields of horticulture, 

 I am quite well aware ; yet it seems to me that we do know 

 enough to warrant tlic belief that with sufficient care in the 

 selection of stocks and scions we may greatly improve, not 

 only the productiveness of our trees, but the color and keep- 

 ing qualities of our fruit as well." 



In connection with this, Mr. C. G. Patton of Iowa, has done 

 a good deal of experimenting to learn the influence of stock 

 on scion in top-grafting, and among the conclusions he has 

 reached are, that the seedlings of any species make much 

 better unions with varieties of their own kind than with 

 cross seedlings. Old orchards, top-grafted, are longer lived 

 and more fruitful than the same varieties when root-grafted. 

 Top-grafting, when the top and scion are congenial, increases 

 hardiness twenty-five per cent. Varieties productive as root- 

 grafts are also productive when top-worked. The best age for 

 top-working is from three to seven years, and the best time to 

 do it is in March and April. 



Among the unions that have been found most satisfactory 

 are the following : Fameuse on Soulard or Hibernal ; Yellow 

 Transparent and Fall Orange on Hyslop ; .Jonathan on Hess ; 

 Rebka on Plumb's Cider ; Rawle's Genet on Tetofsky ; Stark, 

 Baldwin, Longfield, and Utter on Virginia ; Ben Davis on 

 Whitney ; Wealthy and Grimes on Duchess ; Melinda and 

 Pewaukee on Transcendent; Iowa Blush on Alaska. The 

 list is suggestive only, not exhaustive, and local soils and 

 conditions may offset results from these unions. 



