RUSSIAN REMEDY FOR ROOT-KILLING OF APPLE TREES. 3^3 



even today be considered the chief granary of the whole Amour- 

 Littoral region." 



The above facts tend to show why Pyrus baccata does not root- 

 kill in Russia, Dakota or Assiniboia. 



Young seedlings of this specie raised from imported seed on the 

 the college grounds at Brookings last year came through last win- 

 ter in perfect condition. 



The illustration (see frontispiece) shows a one year old tree of 

 PjTus baccata odorata whip-grafted on a piece-root of Vermont 

 apple seedling. The seedling was grown by a western nurseryman 

 from Vermont seed. The scion was cut from a tree imported fron> 

 Germany early in the winter of 1897-98. The graft was made in the 

 winter of 1897-98, planted in the spring of 1898 and made a growth of 

 17 inches the first year. Among a lot of several hundred root-grafts 

 root-killed in the winter of 1898-99, this tree was conspicuous for its 

 vigorous growth from the terminal end. Careful digging soon 

 furnished the expanation. The scion, E to A, of the original graft, 

 was alive and healthy; the root, A to B, was dead and the sap had 

 fermented. The scion had, however, thrown out the strong root C 

 to D; this was perfectly healthy and enabled the root to begin a 

 vigorous growth. The only part of the entire tree affected by the 

 winter was the part, A to B. 



In September, 1898, the writer called on Peter M. Gideon, the orig- 

 inator of the Wealthy and Peter apples, the Martha, Florence, Lou 

 and October crabs, and many other varieties of apples and crabs. 

 Mr. Gideon began his experiments in fruit culture about forty-five 

 years ago and has grown and sent out many'thousands of seedlings, 

 chiefly of Siberian crabs. Mr. Gideon's fruit farm is situated near 

 the shore of r<ake Minnetonka, at Excelsior, Minnesota. In reply to 

 a question, Mr. Gideon said: "If the ground is moist in the fall an 

 ordinary apple seedling will not root-kill, if dry it will; but a Si- 

 berian crab root will come out all right and not root-kill on dry soil, 

 while every American seedling root will winter-kill. Even a Siberian 

 root sticking out of the ground after digging, I have known to form 

 a terminal bud and make a tree. A mulch is always good in the fall 

 to prevent root-killing. I have often had hardy varieties in nursery 

 with all the American seedling root dead in the spring, but a single 

 root which had come from the scion had survived the winter, and 

 this pulled the tree through. We greatly need hardy stocks for the 

 apple used in a commercial way. In my opinion, no hardier stocks 

 could be grown than those of the iron-clad, cross-bred Siberian 

 seedlings I have sent out." 



THE PROBLEM BEFORE US. 



It now remains to be settled by experiment which is the best form 

 of the Siberian crab for this purpose. The true Pyrus baccata is 

 probably the best, as P_rrus pruaifolia appears to be a hybrid of 

 P. baccata and P. malus, the cultivated apple, according to a recent 

 observation of Prof. L. H. Bailey, who examined, while in Berlin, a 

 year or so ago, the specimen in the Willdenow herbarium on which 

 the species is founded. Fr. Th. Koeppen (St. Petersburgh, 1888,) 

 doubts the Russian or Siberian origin of P. pruaifolia— oi this arti- 



