THE CRAB ROOT AS A STOCK FOR THE MINNESOTA ORCHARD. 3O3 



Judge Meyer : I know the locality where these trees grow, and 

 they are on a glacial drift formation, and it is one of the richest 

 soils that can be found in which these trees are growing. 



Mr. Philips : If I were going to plant those trees in some other 

 soil I would do some experimenting. 



Mr. O. W. Moore: A number of years ago I grafted five hun- 

 dred scions. I put them on crab roots, scions of both Hibernal 

 and Virginia crabs. I gave them a seven-inch root and also a seven- 

 inch scion and set them one bud above the ground. I carried them 

 two years in that way. Then I grafted upon these Virginia crabs 

 and Hibernal, about eighteen inches from the ground. Wealthy, 

 Malinda, and so on, all the varieties which we have been propagat- 

 ing. I have been growing them two years. Last spring 1 dug up a 

 few of them, and that crab root was almost invariably a tap root 

 with very little if any branches and the scion had begun to put out 

 roots above the union. 



Mr. Husser : I would like to have Mr. Philips state whether it 

 is proper to transplant trees from a rich soil to a poor soil, or whether 

 it is preferable to transplant them from a poor soil to a rich soil. 

 What I mean is whether he has ever noticed any difference in grow- 

 ing apple trees when he has taken them from a poor soil and planted 

 them in a very rich soil or vice versa, whether they were just as 

 good as when planting them in the same soil in which they originally 

 stood. 



Mr. Philips : My experience in growing trees on sandy soil is 

 that they will not do well if they are set in another soil. We had 

 some experience along that line at Trempeleau, and those trees were 

 not a success when put on heavy soil. 



Mr. Geo. J. Kellogg (Wis.) : I would like to mention the fact 

 that when Mr. Stickney and Mr. Kimbark were growing trees forty- 

 five years ago, they tried the crab root thoroughly. They said it 

 tended to dwarf, the trees; that was the only fault they found with 

 the crab root. 



