50 State Horticultural Society. 



that in the httlc family orchard. Still the point of the papers is weU 

 taken. 



\u regard to scions, several years ago 1 was ai)i)lied to for scions, 

 and the party wanted to cut ofif of the fine limbs where I didn't want 

 him too. He w^as willing to pay in order to get a certain variety, but 

 I would not consent. Then he said let us have the water-sprouts and 

 I let him, but watched, and they took from the tree and all around 

 trees. Our nurseymen are not taking pains enough, they should not 

 take scions from unproductive trees. 



W. G. Gano — Do nurserymen use cider mill seeds? It is impos- 

 sible for a seed to go through a mill whole now-a-days ; it may formerly 

 have been possible but not now. 



President Whitten — The seed are bought where they can be ob- 

 tained in large quantities and cheaply, mostly from southern France, 

 where there are many factories of jellies, preserves, butters, cham- 

 paign, etc. 



J. M. Irvine — Why should we pay so much attention to the seeds 

 when they are so unimportant? We use only a small piece of root 

 and the scion soon roots itself. If they were budded it would be dif- 

 ferent. The selection of scions theory is fine and of infinite importance. 



G. T. Tippin — The Society meets in Morgan county as a missionary, 

 so I call your attention to the fact that as nurserymen you want to 

 leave to some one else the selection of seeds from the cider pile. It 

 is a fact that a large per cent of the seeds do come from France. If 

 a nurseryman would give a sworn statement that his seeds were se- 

 lected by hand but came from America, he would be hopelessly downed 

 b)" the one who bought his seeds abroad. I believe thoroughly in scion 

 selection and in selection of soil. In my candid judgment there is in 

 the land not a single forty acres where the whole piece is strictly fitted 

 for an orchard. The trees will die out in some spots. We can not get 

 over this difficulty by getting superior stock. We can not grow apples 

 on soil not adapted for them. I do not think the seedling has much to 

 do wath it. I have studied the matter closely and believe that the most 

 important point in the whole orchard business of apple growing is the 

 soil. Don't plant the poor spots, or you will have disappointment, and 

 this applies to the Ozark region. 



G. W. Ferguson — I was for a time in the nursery business and 

 did work on the ground, and I learned that the soil had a great deal to 

 do v/ith the success of orchard planting. In the case of old orchards 

 planted for family use the selection of the ground was carefully made. 

 But with the commercial orchards now it is not so. We put out hun- 



