PYRUS BACCATA AS A STOCK FOR THE APPLE. I05 



imported direct from France. Both are botanically varieties of 

 Pyrus malus. 



12. Some say we should raise our nursery seedlings from 

 hardy apple varieties, such as Duchess and Wealthy. This would 

 do for a time as we go northward, but I learned by experience 

 at Brookings in the winter of 1898-9 that no seedlings of the 

 common apple, even Hibernal, Wealthy, Duchess and many 

 more, are sufficiently hardy. The Russians long ago learned to 

 discard all the Pyrus malus species for hardy stocks. 



13. Some say, graft apple trees in the usual manner on com- 

 mon apple seedlings, either Vermont seedling or French crab, 

 and mulch the trees every fall. This will do very well for a few 

 trees, but the average farmer will not mulch, and for large or- 

 chards it is too expensive. If for some unavoidable reason it is 

 neglected, it may mean the death of the whole orchard after 

 years of work and expense. 



14. Some say, plant a cover crop to protect the roots over 

 winter. Very well for some localities, but for a considerable 

 area of the northwest the trees need every ounce of moisture 

 that falls. Furthermore, the season is often too dry, and the 

 cover crop seeds fail to germinate. 



15. I apprehend that grafting at the collar, that is, at the 

 surface of the ground or immediately below, will be better in 

 many seasons than budding. At St. Petersburg stocks are 

 grafted at the collar, this giving better results than budding, 

 owing to the shortness of the season. 



16. If we were always sure of sufficient snowfall it would 

 solve the problem, as snow is the best mulch in the world. This 

 explains why root-killing is not a factor of consequence in the 

 North Atlantic states or other moist regions with abundant 

 snowfall. 



17. Charles G. Patten, of Charles City, Iowa, has given you 

 his experience of some years ago with piece-root grafting on 

 seedlings of the Cherry and Yellow Siberian crab. The ex- 

 perience, as you know, was unfavorable, as already reported to 

 this society in my former paper and in Bulletin No. 65 of the 

 South Dakota Experiment Station. Still earlier experiments, over 

 thirty years ago, in Wisconsin confirmed this same idea that 

 piece-root grafting is not a good plan owing to the inability of 

 the piece-root to keep pace with the scion. Part of this experi- 

 ence may be due to the fact that our root-killing winters only 

 come every few years and in the intervals the common com- 

 mercial seedlings are very cheap. However, I regard Mr. Pat- 



