46 State Horticultural Society. 



American people to make money, there is no time for such slow work, 

 no looking ahead for the benefit of those who are to come after us. No, 

 we will not, but this will go on until some time away in the future. It 

 will be hard for the people who arc here then to get an apple. 



THE BEST TREES AND THE BEST VARIETIES. 



(Ohas. C. Bell, Boonville, Mo.) 



"Healthy well-bred trees, true to name, from the nearest reliable 

 nursery." "Leading commercial varieties, best suited to your soil, lo- 

 cation and climate." 



This is briefly my answer: Healthy, true-to-name trees is the 

 first and to my mind the most important condition. I use the term 

 "healthy, well-bred trees" — by this I mean all that these words imply. 

 Believing as I do that tree culture is subject to and governed by the 

 same law of nature which governs live stock and all living things, it 

 is very important to me to know whether the very beginning and in- 

 ception of our fruit trees come from the best, most perfect specimens, 

 and seed that is pure and healthy. 



But in these days of crowding and pushing commercialism, with 

 its many millions of tree nurseries, possibly we lose sight of the better- 

 ment of posterity. Thus we find that the apple seeds from which are 

 grown the seedlings for grafting are chiefly secured from the cider 

 mills, and consequently are the seeds from the very poorest, most de- 

 formed, as well as unhealthy, specimens of apples. I simply call atten- 

 tion to this fact, and without going further into details, only add: 

 that a well informed stock breeder would not do this; with him it is 

 important to secure the best and purest blood, free from deformity, 

 defects and hereditary disease. 



Next let us see from where the commercial scions for grafting come : 

 Are they always selected from the healthiest and best shaped specimens 

 of bearing fruit trees — such trees which bear the most perfect fruit in 

 point of shape, size, color, flavor and quality ? Or are these grafts from 

 trees regardless of shape, health, style, beauty, color and quality of fruit, 

 or possibly at haphazard from young trees out of the nursery-row ? This 

 line of thought I specially advance for the benefit of the nurserymen, and 

 to explain what I mean by "healthy well-bred trees." I firmly believe if 

 the nurserymen would exercise the same care to breed up as the stock- 

 men do, our fruit trees would live longer, bear more and better fruit, 

 and many an orchardist's troubles would be at an end. 



