462 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



of unfavorable experience along this line. The Iowa reports also 

 quote unfavorable Vermont experience.* 



In the reports the term "Siberian crab" is used in nearly all cases, 

 no distinction being made between P. baccata and P. prunifolia. 

 The inference, however, may be made that they were chiefly of the 

 prunifolia type, the true P. baccata being rare in cultivation, owing 

 to the small size of the fruit. So far as the writer has been able to 

 ascertain, the Russian method of budding at the collar on seedlings 

 of i-^rus foaccafa already established in the nursery has not been 

 fully, if at all, tested. The chief objection to the trees root-grafted 

 on Siberian crabs appears to be the dwarfed growth of the tree. 

 The only reference to budding, in the reports at hand, is by E. Wil- 

 cox, of La Crosse, Wis., in the Wisconsin horticultural report for 

 1881-2, p. 36. Mr. Wilcox "budded a portion of his stock and thought 

 the union was stronger and more perfect than where grafted." Mr. 

 Wilcox expressed strong preference for the use of the Siberian crabs 

 for stocks. 



Budding may do better than root-grafting. A parallel case may 

 be found in the case of the Mahaleb cherry. Cultivated cherries bud 

 very readily on this stock, but unite with great difificulty in root- 

 grafting. 



The Russian method of budding on Pyrus baccata stocks, if 

 found to be a good method in the prairie northwest, will do away 

 entirely with root-grafting in the winter, and make the trees sotne- 

 what more expensive. The dwarfing effect of this stock, already re- 

 ferred to in the citations from Russian experience, may not prove a 

 disadvantage for the home orchards of the prairie northwest, since 

 on our rich prairie soils apple trees are prone to form wood instead 

 of bearing fruit. Many varieties, otherwise valuable, suffer in pub- 

 lic estimation because of their tardy bearing. This shy bearing has 

 caused much interest of late years in girdling experiments. Mr. E. 

 H. S. Dartt, of Owatonna, Minnesota, has already obtained some 

 valuable results from his girdling experiments. Any dwarf stock 

 tends to cause earlier bearing; it is in effect a mild form of girdling, 

 the partial stoppage of sap at the point of union tending to force 

 the sap to form fruit buds rather than wood buds. 



In all sections where root-killing is not a source of constant 

 trouble, the dwarfing tendency of the Pjrus baccata stock will 

 probably be a fatal objection, at least for commercial orchards. 

 The climatic conditions of the native home of this crab also lead to 

 the opinion that it will be at home only at the north. In like man- 

 ner, in Russia the writer found the stock used only at the north, 

 while at Kieve, where French pears are grown, seedlings of the cul- 

 tivated apple (Pjrrus Malus) were used. 



BUDDING vs. PIECE-ROOT GRAFTING. 



In the nurseries of Europe pieceroot grafting in winter is not 

 practiced, budding in August at the collar on seedlings already 



* Wisconsin State Horticultural Society report: 1870-71 (referred to in later re- 

 ports) ; 1879-80, p. 259; 1880-81, p. 190; 1881-82, p. 34-38; 1890, p. 115; 1892, p. 67. 



Iowa State Horticultural Society report: 1873, p. 81; 1875, p. 153; 1875, p. 260; 1376, 

 p. 221; 1876, p. 250; 1877, p. 386; lg8i, p. 231. 



