58 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



• 



tain the bacteria has the disadvantages of being expensive, uncertain, 

 uneven and of transferring soil diseases. Also it must be remembered 

 in ili is connection that each of the legumes requires a particular strain 

 of the organism, that used for clover cannot be successfully substituted 

 for that of vetch, for example. The simplest, most efficient and least 

 expensive method is through inoculation of the seed. The cultures 

 just described are sufficient for inoculating one bushel, and may be 

 sent through the mail. The bottle is opened just before using and the 

 culture mixed with water, diluting the numbers. This dilution is then 

 thoroughly mixed with the moistened seed which is then allowed to 

 dry sufficiently to permit its passage through a drill. 



Upon germination of the seed the organism is present and immediate- 

 ly infects the young root hairs. The resulting nodules act as "fertil- 

 izer factories" on the roots of each plant, carrying the host over periods 

 of otherwise plant starvation when the uninoculated would turn yellow 

 and die upon exhausting the available food in the soil. Inoculation has 

 been observed to make a difference in the case of alfalfa of from no 

 growth at all to seven tons per acre. 



In view of these facts the value of the legumes can scarcely be over- 

 estimated. They alone must be the salvation of great tracts of poor 

 land where sand burs and brush heaps have been the chief factor in keep- 

 ing the farm at home. With their use the great problem of soil im- 

 provement contemporaneous with increased crop production is largely 

 solved. 



THE THREE KINDS OF APPLE TREES. 



G. F. LEONARU, HART. 



In a consideration of the three kinds of apple trees, viz., the standard 

 or common variety and 1 lie two kinds of dwarfs, Paradise and Doucin; 

 I will discuss at some length the dwarfs as compared with the stand- 

 ards. 



The question of growing dwarf apples in the commercial orchard is 

 one that has received a great deal of discussion pro and con among 

 commercial fruit growers. 



The source of basic information upon this subject is rather limited 

 due to the fact that at the present time the number of dwarf commercial 

 orchards are few in number. However, there has been accomplished 

 considerable work along this line at the Cornell Experiment Station, 

 both at the station proper and through a comparison of results obtained 

 throughoul that and other states by the most successful fruit growers. 



Dwarf trees as a rule come into bearing earlier than do the standard, 

 this has been found especially so in the apple; they are also supposed 

 to produce larger and handsomer fruit although this latter attribute 

 has never been proven. 



Apples at the present time are regularly dwarfed by budding or graft- 

 ing the desired variety upon Paradise or Doucin stock. The former 



