TOP-GEAFTING THE APPLE. 335 



Mr. J. B. Mitchell (Iowa) : I wish to ask Mr. Collman whether 

 he ever tried the Hibernal ? 



Mr. Collman : Yes, but I never liked it any better than the Vir- 

 ginia. 



Mr. Mitchell : When doctors disagree things are apt to get 

 pretty badly mixed up. I have had some experience in top-grafting, 

 and I find that locality and condition make a great difference. Now 

 in the case of Mr. Philips he is located on the Baraboo ridge, which 

 is some two hundred feet higher than the surrounding country. He 

 says the Virginia does not blight. I shoujd think it would not in 

 that position, but with me it does blight some. I have top-grafted 

 the Virginia and the Hibernal, not extensively, however. In my 

 work in recent years the Hibernal has succeeded best with me ; it 

 makes the best union in top-working; it has fruited the best, and in 

 my estimation the Hibernal is far the best. 



Mr. E. A. Smith : Several years ago in our orchard at Lake 

 City we set out a lot of Hibernal trees and crabs, top-working them 

 later on. Two years ago we top-worked a large number of trees 

 with Wealthy, and they started to blight, and before the next season 

 was over the trees were entirely destroyed. This summer we top- 

 worked the remainder, and the success was less than at first. Re- 

 cently going through those orchards with Mr. Underwood he re- 

 marked : "I am afraid the Hibernal is not going to be a good tree 

 to top-work the Wealthy, but perhaps there are some other varieties 

 more in sympathy with that stock." 



Mr. Andrew Wilfert : I have top-worked the Jonathan on the 

 Hibernal, also the Pewaukee, and they were the same size when 

 top-worked three years ago last spring, and the one that was grafted 

 on the Pewaukee had about fifty apples on. The one that was 

 top-worked on the Hibernal has not borne yet, still it made the same 

 growth as the other, and I think I can top-work them successfully. 

 I set out some more. I set out a Hibernal that I know has been 

 grafted on crab roots and then top-worked with winter apples. 



Thinning Pi.ums Pays. — In the future the thinning of plums will follow 

 closely upon that of peaches. At the Michigan experiment station one tree 

 each of a number of varieties of plums was thinned, with a view of determin- 

 ing the value of thinning to help control brown rot, as well as to get finer and 

 larger fruit. As near as was possble, the fruits were thinned so that no two 

 plums would touch when fully matured. The fruit did not rot as bad and was 

 much larger on trees thinned than on trees not thinned; also the trees did not 

 break down where thinned. 



If not pruned, an old hydrangea paniculata will produce a very large 

 number of flower heads, but all of them small. It is merely a matter of over- 

 bearing and the consequent sacrifice of quality for quantity. The hydrangea 

 should be severely pruned every spring before growth commences, cutting all 

 of the last year's growth down to one or two eyes, and removing the weakest 

 shoots altogether. When the operation is finished there should be more wood 

 on the ground than on the plant, and the result will be a fewer number of 

 panicles, but each of greater size and substance. To get the very best results 

 in this direction, the plants should be pruned very low, so that the branches 

 must start out quite near the ground. 



