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HORTlCULTURi: 



November 30, 1907 



A PATENT ON GRAFTING. 



Under date of October 29, 1907, the 

 {]. S. Patent Office granted to Peter 

 Keiser, of Grafton, Mass., patent No. 

 869,493, for method of grafting trees, 

 on the following claim; 



"Tbe herein described method of grafting 

 consisting of providing a scion, having 

 buds thereon, then tapering one end of the 

 scion longitudinally and laterally, one face 

 of the tapered portion intersecting one of 

 the buds on the scion, then entering the 

 tapered end of tbe scion in an incision In 

 the end of the stocli, the severed face of 

 the bud being in line with the severed barlj 

 at one edge of the incision." 



Being somewhat skeptical as to 

 the newness of this "invention" we 

 asked Jackson Dawson for his views 

 thereon, which we herewith append: 

 Editor HORTICULTURE: 



Dear Sir:— The gentleman who has 

 applied for this patent undoubtedly 

 thinks he has found out something 

 new. I do not think that it is new 

 to commerce or practical men who 

 have graftjed trees and shrubs for 

 years both in this country and abroad. 

 In this country most of the grafting, 

 except in a few cases, has been done 

 to increase our fruit trees and a few 

 ornainentals, but the grafting of ever- 

 greens, rhododendrons and ornamen- 

 tals has been mostly done abroad for 

 many years; in fact, it is only within 

 thirty years that the grafting of ever- 

 greens or evergreen shrubs has been 

 done even in a small way in this coun- 

 try, and this only by a few firms, as 

 it was not considered to be a success 

 financially and few firms were willing 

 to risk the time and labor on a sub- 

 ject they knew so little about and 

 which required so much attention. 



All grafting, to be successful, is de- 

 pendent upon the close connection of 

 the two cambium layers and the finer 

 and closer the cuts the more successful 

 the operation, and if one eye can be 

 brought down near the base of the 

 scion to a similar eye on the stock so 

 much the better as there is so much 

 moi-e chance of active growth. Some 

 grafts, of course, need to be kept in 

 close frames and others do equally 

 well in the open if properly covered 

 with wax to keep out air and mois- 

 ture, but with all there must be a 

 union of the two cambium layers to 

 be successful. AVoods themelves 

 never unite; the cambium layers 

 are what do the work. Plants 

 that have been grafted for years, when 

 split downwards, show that although 

 the cambiums unite and grow around 

 them and form a perfect outside ap- 

 pearance the small part of the woody 

 tissue inside is never changed. 



Charles Baltet. an eminent French 

 horticulturist, who gave a great part 

 of his life to the study of this subject, 

 mentions thirty or more ways of 

 grafting but all are dependent for their 

 success on the fine connection of the 

 cambium layers. While so many ways 

 of grafting are possible only a few 

 are used in practice, namely the saddle- 

 graft used chiefly for rhododendrons, 

 the side or veneer graft sometimes with 

 a shoulder to hold the graft in place 

 for evergreens, the whip or splice 

 graft together with the tongue graft 

 for small stock such as small apples, 

 pears and others which are used al- 

 most entirely by our larger nursery 

 growers who grow hundi-eds of thous- 

 ands of fruit trees for the market and 

 generally do all their grafting during 



THE FASTIGIATE GINKGO. 



Mr. Lonsdale's notes, accompanied 

 with the four illustrations, in HORTI- 

 CULTURE of Nov. 9th were very in- 

 teresting to me. The trees near Hor- 

 ticultui-al Hall are old friends of mine 

 and liave lieen the subject of many de- 

 bates when viewing them with others. 

 That they are decidedly pyramidal 

 cannot be denied, and this habit is 

 more pronounced than in the more 

 common form. 



In considering what is the type, I 

 think we might reasonably decide on 

 that forai which is most largely pres- 

 ent among seedlings. The illustrations 

 appearing herewith represent speci- 

 mens the writer is familiar with, and 

 their history is as follows: 



They are from 10 to 12 years old, 

 grown from seeds, and only ordinary 

 plants, not having been specially se- 

 lected. They have not been pruned 

 and I doubt if they were given a trim- 

 ming at the time of transplanting. 



They represent the same form I have 

 seen in thousands of trees in the nur- 

 sery rows — trees, too, that were orig- 

 inally from the seed beds. Today I 

 know of a row of young trees that will 

 some day be of the same form as these 

 illustrated, as their present appearance 

 predicts this same style. 



If this form I speak of is the type, 

 it can readily be seen that as a shade 

 tree it could not be considered espe- 

 cially desirable. 



There is one way of treating this 

 tree, however, that makes it very de- 

 sirable as a shade tree, and that is !0 . j 

 prune its leader when young. By this 

 method the tree is forced into a 

 spreading habit. 



I am convinced that often the tree is 

 injured when young or pruned, and 

 through this means we come across 

 more of the spreading kinds which, 

 however, I contend are not the tvpe. 

 WARREN J. CHANDLER. 



the winter, storing them in boxes or 

 beds of sand or earth in cool cellars 

 until the spring planting when they 

 are planted in nursery rows deep 

 nough to cover the graft, and at the 

 end of the season the plants are fit 

 for sale, and the cleft graft for all 

 coarse grafting over a large tree such 

 as apples, cheri-ies, plums or other old 

 trees that need renewing, or if needed 

 to try new seedlings to ascertain their 

 valtie commercially. 



For m>- part I see no sense in a 

 patent on grafting, except in munici- 

 pal affairs. To patent anything else 

 is onlv throwing money awav. 

 JACKSON DAWSON, 

 Supt. Arnold Arboretum. 

 Jamaica Plain, Mass. 



RUST ON CARNATIONS. 



Editor of HORTICULTURE: 



I have been troubled with rust on 

 my carnationsi and it seems to be still 

 spreading. Would you kindly tell me 

 the best cure for it and how to use 

 it? MACK. 



It has been our experience with 

 carnation rust that it will run a cer- 

 tain course, and then seem to disap- 



pear. The treatment for rtist which 

 we use is plenty of fresh air, holding 

 the temperature as evenly as iwssible, 

 and keeping the plants free from mois- 

 ture. I should advise picking off only 

 such foliage as is dead, keeping the 

 plants perfectly straightened up and 

 removing all rubbish or litter from 

 the bench which may have been ap- 

 plied as a mulch. By securing gooQ 

 root action and plenty of growth we 

 believe the rust will be. in a short 

 time, overcome. 



C. W. Ward's remarks on carna- 

 tion rust in his book, "The American 

 Carnation." and the treatment of 

 plants affected by rust, is substantiated 

 by our experience, and we believe , 

 these remarks cover the situation , 

 thoroughlv. I 



WALLACE R. PIERSON. 



MOVEMENTS OF GARDENERS. 



E. E. Grotling of San Francisco has 

 taken up his residence in Berkeley, 

 Calif. 



Alfred Reidenbach of New Britain, ! 

 Ct., has accepted a position as manager | 

 of the Hugh Chesney greenhouses, 

 Farniington, Ct. 



