STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 155 



one partial failure, after over twenty years of uninterrupted suc- 

 cess; for such a winter as that of two years ago may not occur 

 again in a lifetime, if ever. If those varieties should stand only 

 ten years, they would be the most profitable crop a land owner 

 could plant. Therefore I advise to mix them in with our extra 

 hardies, especially if you have a clay soil, for in such they do 

 best. A north, northwest or northeast exposure is the best for 

 the apple, and, indeed, for any fruit except the grape; give 

 them all the sunshine you can. 



While on the subject of apple culture, let me state a few factg 

 in regard to root grafts. The so-called crab roots are not all 

 hardy — none are pure crab, all are mongrels — and where the 

 crab predominates the graft that is not a crab mongrel does not 

 take well, neither on root nor stock. The mongrel root and mon- 

 grel stock are only preferable when a mongrel graft is to be in- 

 serted, but as all such are not hardy, a good mulch is needed of 

 some coarse litter to make sure against root-killing under cer- 

 tain conditions, as not all winters will kill even the most tender 

 roots. 



The common apple will not make a smooth junction on a 

 stock where the crab predominates, and consequently will not 

 make a lasting tree; and a hardy variety grafted or budded on 

 the common apple stock is worthless, as the stock below the 

 junction of graft or bud is sure to winter-kill the first hard win- 

 ter. You can protect a tender root, but you can not save a ten- 

 der stock, so avoid the tree agent with his budded trees. 



NURSERY FRAUDS. 



And, lastly, it matters not where a tree is grown — whether 

 east, south or north — that tree is best that comes to the planter 

 in the best condition, if true to name, but with the great mass of 

 tree planters, the smooth-tongued agent with his rubbish and 

 frauds is the one thing needful. Though fleeced a score of times, 

 they patronize him the twenty-first time as freely as ever, and 

 the bigger the price of the fraud the more greedily they swallow 

 the bait. The fact is notorious that tree agents have sold one 

 hundred trees of the Gideon apple, at one dollar per tree, where 

 I, the originator, have been able to sell one at twenty-five cents. 

 They have been swindled so often, and paid so dear for it, that 

 they have come to love to have it so. They are wedded to the 

 agent; it is love's union, and dead trees, plants and grape vines 

 can not separate them. 



