152 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



with the orchard fruits the cuttings should be made four inches long, 

 and stuck like other cuttings, but with the top about three-fourths of an 

 inch below the earth's surface. As the available material is yet scarce we 

 are now growing the cherry, plum, rosa rugosa, and other things, under 

 glass. In this way we can use short cuttings of smaller size, and secure 

 an even growth with less than one per cent of loss. 



The cuttings are planted thickly, in rows, in boxes eighteen inches wide, 

 six feet long, and five inches deep. Holes are bored in the bottom for 

 drainage, the bottom covered with a layer of moss which is covered with 

 about three inches of common garden earth. The cuttings are stuck with 

 the tops even with the surface and tightly packed. An inch of very rich 

 earth is then sifted over the whole surface. 



The boxes are set away in the cellar until the middle of November, when 

 they are set under the sashes not over one foot below the glass. At this 

 date the plants are from one to three inches above the surface, and by the 

 middle of May they will run from six inches to a foot in height. Prior to 

 planting in nursery the plants are hardened by exposure to the air and 

 scant watering. We put them out after the hurry of spring's work is over, 

 selecting a cloudy day if possible. But last year we had no cloudy days at 

 the proper time, yet we lost very few plants. Our hot bed for this use is 

 about forty feet in length, is covered with old hot bed sash, and is heated 

 by hot water pipes. We use for the water heating a very small base burn- 

 ing conical boiler made by Hitchens & Co., for laundries and parlor con- 

 servatories It consumes very little coal and has proven ample for heat- 

 ing the bed in the most extreme weather. 



HARDY STOCKS. 



For the Apple: We have no congenial native species of the apple for use 

 as stocks such as are found in all parts of Europe. The wood of our native 

 crab is hard and close grained and does not unite properly with one variety 

 out of a hundred of those noted in our fruit books. The Siberian crab 

 also differs in wood and its use must be confined to very few varieties. So 

 far as known at this time the best available stock for topworking at the 

 north are some of the Russian varieties such as the Anis, Hibernal, Re- 

 cumbent, Bergamot and Silken Leaf. If worked with short root and long 

 scion so as to start roots from the scion, such varieties will, I believe, be 

 extensively used for top-working in the near future. In Iowa the use of 

 very hardy summer varieties such as Whitney's No. 20, Duchess, and Ani- 

 sette, is not advisable for winter varieties. At Dubuque, Iowa, the Ben 

 Davis on Whitney's No. 20 and Duchess becomes a fall apple, and the 

 same effect is reported in other parts of the state. But at the north the 

 use of varieties as late in season of fruit as the Anis or Hibernal has not 

 resulted in hastening the maturity of winter sorts worked on them. 



For the Pear: We have no suitable stock on which to crown graft or bud 

 the pear which at present is obtainable in quantity. But the hardiest 

 Russian varieties may be compelled to root from the scion as worked on 

 common French stocks, and can be used as stocks on which to work var- 

 ieties slightly less hardy in tree with a better grade of fruit. 



For the Plum: We are fortunate in having strong growing native vari- 

 eties of the plum ou which the hardy Russians and the best native vari- 

 eties do well when crown grafted, budded or top worked. The Russian 

 prunes and apricots we also find to do well on our native species. 



