RELATION OF EARLY MATURITY TO HARDINESS IN TREES. 229 



seed from trees as near home as possible. If you do this you will 

 be getting seed from trees that have accustomed themselves to the 

 length of your seasons, trees that stop growing at the right time and 

 that, therefore, are hardy. 



I might add in this connection that the same rules do jiot hold 

 for fruit trees or, probably, any other kind of trees or shrubs not 

 propagated by seed. Several years ago, I secured scions of four 

 varieties of apples from some fifteen or sixteen different states, in- 

 cluding northern and southern, eastern and western states. The 

 varieties were Oldenburg, Red Astrachan, Ben Davis and Red June, 

 all standard varieties, representing various degrees of hardiness. 

 The scions were taken in each case from old trees or from trees 

 that had been propagated in that particular place for many years. 

 The trees frofTi all the different localities were grown side by side 

 in our nursery, and there was, of course, a very noticeable differ- 

 ence in time of maturing between the different varieties, but I could 

 find no appreciable difference in the time of ripening between the 

 various lots of any one variety. The Red June ripened as early as 

 the same variety from the south. The Oldenburg from the south 

 had not acquired habits of late growth. Now this does not mean that 

 fruit trees propagated exclusively by budding or grafting can never 

 adapt themselves to the new conditions of any region into which 

 they may be taken. Perhaps they might do this in time, but the 

 probability of any change in any ordinary length of time is so small 

 that it can be disregarded. It is perhaps possible that a tree grow- 

 ing in a northwestern nursery may be a trifle better able to with- 

 stand our dry conditions when first set in the orchard, but once my 

 Oldenburg apple has got to growing I would not care whether it 

 was propagated east, west, north or south. There are very good 

 reasons for patronizing home nurseries, but the adaptation of home- 

 grown fruit trees to home conditions is not one of them. It is al- 

 most wholly a matter of variety. 



There are other ways in which we can make use of the relation 

 of early maturity to hardiness. We. can often bring about condi- 

 tions that will favor early maturity. Plant the more tender things 

 on high land, where they will stop growing early in the fall. In the 

 case of irrigated land, withhold water during late summer. Avoid 

 over-fertilizing the land, especially with nitrogenous manure. Prac- 

 tice systematic pruning so as not to excite an over-vigorous growth 

 at any time. Stop cultivating and grow a cover crop in the orchard 

 in the late summer to dry the ground somewhat and make the trees 

 ripen their wood. The value of this for peaches has been shown be- 



