384 State Horticultural Society. 



from piece roots of the usual length, two inches. In the orchard there 

 were two rows of Missouri Pippins and two rows of Ben Davis, on whole 

 roots, planted in the spring of 1898, and growing there now. If any 

 man can tell the difference, he can do more than I can. The only differ- 

 ence I saw in them at that time was that the whole roots sent up more 

 seedling sprouts and caused us lots of work, hut so far as longevity of 

 the trees was concerned, 1 could see no difference. But they were terrible 

 things to sprout. About nine-tenths of our two-inch roots, when we took 

 them up from the nursery, had sent out roots from the scion, and the 

 more we experimented in that line, the more we desired them in that 

 way, and from that time on we have used only short roots, to get the roots 

 from the scion, and have always been satisfied with them. Whenever 

 you pay one mill more for whole root than piece root, you are out just 

 that much money." 



The Kansas Experiment Station, after a long, careful test, decided 

 that whole-root trees are in no way superior to piece-root trees ; but as 

 apple seedlings vary in growth and hardiness, it was thought that a bet- 

 ter plan would be to use a short root and a long scion, which in time 

 would cause the tree to grow on its own roots, and thereby make the 

 orchard more uniform in growth and hardiness. 



Prof. W. L. Howard, of the [Missouri State Agricultural College, 

 says, on the subject of whole-root and piece-root: "Experiments con- 

 ducted by the government fruit station, after experience with four years' 

 growth, concluded there is no dift'erence in the growth and vitality of a 

 tree, whether grown from whole or piece root grafts, and that whether 

 nursery stock is called whole-root or piece-root." 



In conclusion, I will say there is no known way of propagating ap- 

 ple trees so that they will be exempt from attacks of borers and other 

 harmful insects, and the same is true of fungus diseases. Nor is there 

 any system of propagation that will cause trees to thrive on poorly drained 

 wet ground. In short, there is no such thing as apple trees that will stand 

 all kinds of neglect and make a long-lived paying orchard. Good trees, 

 good location, good soil, good cultivation and proper attention to every- 

 thing necessary to make the orchard a success, will make trees live 

 longer and pay better than all the whole-root nonsense in the world. 



Republican-Tribune. 



