154 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



terminable causes, and it is an interesting fact that fully half, and I think 

 even more, of the deaths have been seedling trees which were for many- 

 years just as vigorous in every way as the grafted trees; and of the trees 

 that remain, the grafted specimens are in every way as vigorous, hardy, 

 and productive as the others. And some of these trees have two tops, 

 one of which was grafted shoulder-high in the early days, and the other 

 being grafted into the resulting top many years later. And those trees 

 which contain both original branches and grafted ones in the same top, 

 show similar results, — the foreign branches are in every way as vigorous, 

 virile, and productive as the others, and they are proving to be just as 

 long-lived. Here, then, is a positive experiment compassed by the life- 

 time of one man — for my father is still living — which shows that own- 

 rooted trees are not always " infinitely better, healthier and longer-lived 

 than grafted plants." And furthermore, cases like this are by no means 

 rare, nor are they confined to fruit trees. In the case of peaches, I 

 have had a similar experience. The first orchard upon my father's 

 place was composed entirely of seedlings, yet the trees were no longer- 

 lived than budded trees, and they were attacked just as seriously by 

 yellows. And in this connection I will cite the fact that the old seed- 

 ling orchards which still remain to us about the country are much more 

 uneven, contain more dead trees or vacant places, than the commercial 

 orchards of even the same age. This is due, as I have pointed out, upon 

 another occasion,* to the struggle for existence in the old orchards by 

 which the weak trees have disappeared, while the grafted orchards, 

 being made up of selected varieties of known virility and hardiness, 

 have remained more nearly intact, and if the seedling orchards have suf- 

 fered more than the grafted ones, it must be because they have had more 

 weak spots. 



I contend, also, that the universal favor in which graftage is held in 

 America is a strong presumption in its favor. We differ among ourselves 

 as to the best methods of performing the operation, but I have never 

 heard an intelligent American condemn the system as necessarily bad or 

 wrong. In 1890 there were growing in the United States nurseries 240,570,- 

 666 apple trees. 88,494,367 plum trees, 77,223,402 pear trees, and 49,887,874 

 peach trees, with enough other species to make the total of fruit trees 518,- 

 016,612. All of this vast number will go as grafted or budded trees to 

 the consumer and he will accept none other. It is true that half of 

 them may die before they reach bearing age, from various causes, but 

 graftage itself plays a small part in the failures, as may be seen in the 

 case of grapes and small fruits which outnumber the tree fruits in 

 nursery stock and of which less than one half, probably, reach maturity, and 

 yet these are all cutting- grown plants. It is in nineteen cases out of 

 twenty the carelessness of the grower which brings failure. 



I have drawn my arguments and illustrations from fruit-trees because 

 I have had a more extended familiarity with them, and it has been my 

 desire to determine if graftage is, of itself, necessarily pernicious, rather 

 than to discover its merits in specific cases. I am sure that others can 

 corrobate my conclusions from various ornamental plants, and I could 

 myself cite many instances. 



It is impossible, if one considers the facts broadly and candidly, to 

 arrive at any other conclusion than this: Graftage is not suited to all 

 plants, but in those to which it is adapted — and they are many — it is 

 not a devitalizing process. 



* On the Longevity of Apple Trees, before Kansas Horticultural society, 1890. 



