154 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



AGRICULTURAL AND HORTICULTURAL TOPICS. 



BY M. PEAKCE, CHOWEN, MINN. 



My paper will be on a few little things much neglected pertaining to 

 horticulture and agriculture. 



It is admitted by all who have had experience that top grafting the 

 apple on the crab makes a poor union; nor is the crab on the apple any 

 improvement. We have still another class of fruit that has sprung up 

 during the last few years, and which is rapidly on the increase. It is 

 known as the hybrid. It makes a poor union when top worked with 

 either the crab or the apple. Now it stands to reason if those varieties 

 as stated above are a failure, in the end the result must be the same when 

 the crabs or hybrids are grafted on the apple root, or the apple or hybrid 

 on the crab root. When this matter is carefully investigated it is plain 

 why such grafting fails. 



It is a well known fact that all trees and plants of the same species take 

 from the soil the same food in the same proportion. If the ash of the 

 different species of trees and plants be carefully analyzed, it will be 

 found that no two species contain the same inorganic substances in like 

 proportion. The apple root never takes from the soil food in proper pro- 

 portion for the crab or hybrid; neither do crab roots take from the soil 

 food in right proportion for the apple or hybrid. The same rule ap- 

 plies to the food taken by the root of the hybrid. It is not in the right 

 proportion for the apple or crab. Hence the union and the whole struc- 

 ture of the trees must be abnormal and liable to root killing, overbearing, 

 blight and being short lived. Nature demands that all trees to make a 

 perfect success must be grown on their own roots, or on those of the same 

 species. In Minnesota we have about ten or twenty hybrid or crab va- 

 rieties to one of apple. Under these circumstances it is not advisable to 

 plant the seed to grow roots to graft, or with the expectation of getting 

 good fruit or hardy trees. The chances are that from 90 to 100 per cent, 

 will be hybrids of the second crossing, possessing but little vitality. 



The seed of the cherry crab fertilized by the standard apple will make 

 a true hybrid — hardy and vigorous— a perfect stock on which all true hy- 

 brids may be worked. 



To grow good nursery trees — well rooted and stocky — they must have 

 space to grow at least from 12 to 15 inches apart in the row. Cheap and 

 slender trees from 5 to 6 feet high, grown in crowded rows a few inches 

 apart, when transplanted to the orchard, can be made a success by cutting 

 them back close to the ground, and allowing three sprouts to grow above 

 the splice. One of the best and most productive orchards we know of in 

 the state was grown in this way. This subject we will again allude to in 

 its proper place. 



As soil and manure are two of the great essentials in growing fruit and 

 all other crops, a little more space than usual appropriated to these sub- 

 jects will not be out of place. The soil which we cultivate is composed 

 almost entirely of pulverized rock and stone with all their minerals. 



The balance of the soil is decayed matter, animal and vegetable. 



Soil is divided into two parts, organic and inorganic. When it is ex- 

 posed to Are the organic pirt passes off as gas or smoke. The inorganic 

 remains as ashes. 



