2 44 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



of its tendency to blight, although in considering its use as a stock 

 this may be a fear without foundation. Our most recent experiment 

 has been with the Siberian crab, which we understand is nearly akin 

 to the Pyrus baccata. So far as we have yet been able to determine, 

 it has shown no marked superiority to the Orange, but we do not 

 feel that our test has yet been of sufficient duration to give us a safe 

 basis for judgment. Its small size, regular bearing and generally 

 full quota of seeds would make it a good variety to^row for the 

 purpose of securing seed. 



There is one thing in this line we believe we are certain about, 

 and that is thi^: for best results a root must be used that is vigorous 

 enough to strike out strongly the first season after it is grafted. 

 That is perhaps the most critical time in the life of the young tree, 

 for if it is feeble on the approach of its first winter it is apt to come 

 out in the spring with only enough vitality to dally through its second 

 summer or succumb altogether. If this premise is correct, the 

 obvious conclusion is that to determine the best apple stock for the 

 northern grower we should first assemble the hardiest stocks on our 

 list and then select from them the one showing the greatest amount 

 of vital energy. In this way we may some day stumble on a stock 

 of which we may conscientiously say, ''there is none other better." 



Difficult as it is to define the "best stock," it seems still more 

 impossible to define the "best method of growing it." In looking 

 over the propagation records of the Jewell Nursery Cornpany I find 

 very little assistance, at least of a well founded nature, on this branch 

 of the subject. In our effort to determine the best way I find that 

 a method which was dropped one season for a then apparent cause 

 was likely to be again resumed at a subsequent time when for some 

 good reason it would seem superior to the last tried method. For 

 example, I find that several times within the past twenty years we 

 have changed from fall sowing to spring sowing of seed and vice 

 versa. An early and unexpected freeze-up was the cause on a num- 

 ber of occasions. At other times with apparently identical condi- 

 tions, seed seemed to give a better stand when stratified and sown 

 in the spring. In this connection it would scarcely be possible to 

 say too much for the value of having your own source of seed supply. 

 The climatic "hold-ups" to which we are exposed in spring and fall 

 alike makes the question of having the seed on hand for prompt 

 action a most important one. And also in this same line of thought 

 I would suggest that our experimental horticulturists who have 

 orchards of seedling varieties many of which may not have suffi- 

 ciently strong market qualities to make them profitable ought to 

 make a good margin by converting them into cider and vinegar and 



