PROCEEDINGS OF THE WINTER MEETING. 29 



But is there not a safe and easy remedy outside of making the propagator 

 this extra trouble? I think there is, and that lies in yourself. Purchase 

 of the nursery some of the above named hardy, strong-growing trees ; 

 plant them out, and at the right time regraft them with those popular 

 commercial varieties that are known to be tender and not to do well root- 

 grafted. 



ALL CENTERS IN THE MAN. 



Here lies the strongest point in horticulture: the man. He is the main 

 factor, the one that needs to rise above his avocation, else his business 

 must suffer. He must be a close observer of facts and results, able to trace 

 cause to effect and effect to cause — the master of his business. He must 

 read as well as think, and that carefully, if he would select gold from the 

 dross. Good brains are invaluable in any business. He must learn how 

 to propagate, how to cultivate, and how to fertilize; how to pick and handle 

 the fruit, and how to market the same. He must learn, likewise, how to 

 combat the army of insects that prey upon the orchard and vine. A man 

 that can not overcome obstacles that lie in his power, is like one who lies 

 down in the shade and is forgotten. Take man out of horticulture, and it 

 will return to where he first picked it up — to the wilds and jungles of 

 nature. 



Should any one desire help in this beautiful study, let me point him to 

 the popular works of the Michigan State Horticultural society. 



SOME OBSERVATIONS. 



Mr. GuLLEY asked about the age of stocks for top-grafting, and said he 

 would as soon whip-graft in the nursery row, at two years of age (not 

 sooner) as on transplanted trees two inches or more in diameter. A 

 Golden Russet, root-grafted, is on a seedling. Why use the Russet? 



Mr, Beecher: I would use the Golden Russet, Spy, and Lyscom so, 

 because they are hardy and the seedling is not. 



Mr. Willard: The stock affects the root and transforms it, so that there 

 is nothing left of the stock's original tenderness. 



Mr. Beecher: These double- worked trees are thoroughbreds. We have 

 uniform stocks and so have uniform trees. 



Mr. Gulley advocated his plan of double-working for the same reasons. 

 By use of the hardy stocks we get uniform roots and both roots and trees 

 are hardy and strong. 



Mr. Morrill: Does it provide hardy tops also? 



Mr. Rice said he asked the same question at a meeting lately in Ontario, 

 and they said such was the case, one gentleman telling how Spy had been 

 made hardy in Canada by grafting upon Talman Sweet stocks. 



Mr. Beecher .cited some cases, near Saginaw, in which some Russian 



