STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 177 



President Sias. [f the Duchess was on its own roots, the sprout 

 would be Duchess; if grafted on a seedling root, the sprout, if com- 

 ing from below the point of union, would be a seedling. 



The Secretary. This question is asked in good faith by some 

 one, and I will give it a more extended answer, as the record may 

 attract the attention of some of the younger readers of our reports, 

 and may be the beginning of an education in horticulture. Nur- 

 sery apple trees are usually propagated by cutting off the root 

 of a little tree of one year's growth that has been raised from the 

 seed, and inserting in this root by a process known as tongue- 

 grafting, a scion of the variety we want to grow. Of course the 

 top or stem of the seedling is thrown away, and forms no part 

 of the new tree. This seedling root and scion, or " root graft," as 

 we now call it, is set out in the nursery row, and when it has 

 grown up into a little tree of four to six feet in height, say in two 

 or three years, it is ready for transplanting to the orchard. Now, 

 if your Duchess tree was so made, and died down to the point 

 where the scion was inserted in the seedling root, the sprout would 

 come from that root, and of necessity be a seedling; but if there 

 was life left in the stem above the point of union, and if the sprout 

 came from there, it would be only a renewal of the Duchess, and 

 the fruit would be Duchess. 



Sometimes trees are made by top-working; that is, by budding 

 or grafting into the limbs of seedlings or other stock. It is not 

 uncommon to have a tree with seedling root, a grafted stem on it 

 and another sort top- worked upon that; or you may have as many 

 sorts in the top as you can find limbs to bud or graft into. One 

 way to increase our list of good apples in this climate will doubt- 

 less be by planting the seeds of our own hardy seedling apples and 

 top-working the sorts we want into the tops of this second genera- 

 tion of Minnesota seedlings. Some excellent varieties are found in 

 other States doing well when top-worked into seedlings and fail- 

 ing on their own stems. 



It is customary in root grafting to use a short root and a long 

 scion, and set deep so as to encourage hardy roots to come out from 

 the scion, and most of the sprouts that come on trees that kill 

 down are from the scion. 



What is the average crop of grapes to the acre in the vicinity 

 of Lake Minnetonka? 



Mr. Gould. 3000 to 4000 pounds. 



The secretary stated that one-fifth fare certificates were ready 

 at the desk for members who wished to return to their homes by 

 12 



