NATURES AID IN PRODUCING APPLES ADAPTED TO CLIMATE. 6 1 



I have standing at my plaee today some Duchess apple trees that 

 were grown in southern Ohio and some that were grown in the 

 Jewell Nursery, i can see no difference in the productiveness and 

 hardiness between those trees ; they seem to he all the same thing. 

 But there are some things we do not know, and there is one thing 

 I don't know, and which I would like to find out. I had one hun- 

 dred Wealthy trees from the late J\lr. F. G. Gould, of Excelsior, and 

 also one hundred from Phoenix Nursery, in northern Illinois. Those 

 trees of Phoenix went to decay ten years ago or more. They hore 

 a few apples. But nearly all the Wealthy apples I have had grew 

 from the Gould trees, the Phoenix trees threw out an immense 

 amount of fibrous roots, but no leaVling roots, while the Gould trees 

 threw out feeding roots, and they are today in a healthy condition. 

 Perhaps the nurserymen can tell me what produces the immense 

 amount of fibrous roots around the roots of apple trees. I received 

 some trees from Mr. Yahnke that produced those roots ; he thought 

 it was the soil. My impression was that it was largely due to the 

 kind of stock in the 'production of the tree, but I don't know. 



Now I took considerable interest in what Mr. Poore said in re- 

 gard to the life of a tree, in regard to the tap root, etc. I find that 

 my best trees have got a tap root, but in those Gould trees even the 

 side roots went down below the surface, and I am inclined to think 

 that the trees with tap roots will stand the drouth better than those 

 that grow on the surface. Mr. Frankland, of Stonewall, Manitoba, 

 has succeeded remarkably in raising some of our varieties of apples. 

 He is a long distance north of us. Mr. Stevenson, who attended 

 our meeting several years ago. also brought some very fine apples. 

 The apple belt can be widened with nature's aid, there is no doubt 

 about it, but there are some things we do not know, and we must 

 understand some conditions better than we do today in order to 

 reach the highest degree of success. 



Mr. Geo. J. Kellogg: Does Mr. Lord understand the process 

 of Mr. Gould's grafting? At some time I know he double worked 

 in" his grafting. I have seen some of his trees that were double 

 worked. 



Mr. Lord : Mr. Gould showed me his process of grafting, and 

 while Mr. Pearce, an old member of this society now deceased, ad- 

 vocated that system prominently, I do not know that Mr. Gould fol- 

 lowed that plan with the stock he sold. 



Mr. J. M. Underwood : I think we would do well to overcome 

 the injury that is caused by the surface roots killing out through 

 drouth or freezing if we would plant the tree deep. Plant them so 

 that you get the surface roots awav from the surface, and I believe 

 it will help to overcome that trouble. 



The question has been asked as to what makes the difference in 

 the roots. I think I have seen to my satisfaction that the tree itself, 

 the variety, has much to do with the character of the root. Years 

 ago I had a good opportunity to demonstrate this and to see it 

 demonstrated in our nursery rows with all the varieties we had on 

 the ground. I suppose they were all the ordinary roots we have 

 here ; they may have been the roots from eastern apples, trees of 



