STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 67 
were allowed to grow. Cuts out one-third of what he é¢onsiders the 
superfluous wood. Thinks he can, in two years, certainly renew 
the top of a tree and yet preserve its form. 
Mr. Pearce said that he did not believe in cutting away all the 
top of a tree at once for the purpose of grafting, except in the 
ease of small trees. With large trees he would never remove more 
than one-half the top im one season. 
Mr. Harris inquired if a lump or beetle formed at the junction 
of the Duchess of Oldenburg with crab stock. 
Mr. Eldridge reported that he had Duchess grafted on Trans- 
cendent crabs, and no lumps appeared. Said the lump was caused 
by the cion growing faster than the stock. 
President Grimes said it was caused by the unequal vitality in 
the trees. 
Mr. Tibbits stated that m cases where he had cut away the en- 
tire top in grafting, he was not troubled with blight of the cions, 
but where he had cut away only one-half the top the cions were 
destroyed by bight. He explained that this expression related to 
crab stock subject to blight. He had saved some cions after graft- 
ing by splitting the bark of the cion. Thinks this will prevent 
blight to a great extent. 
Mr. Harris gave asareason for the formation of a lump at 
graft juncture was because the cells differ in size and cannot as- 
similate. 
Prof. Porter said the cells were the unit of the plant, and their 
multiplication the increase of growth, and that the difference in 
growth was owing to the primitive difference in cell structure. 
The question, ‘‘Do trees draw any return flow or sap from the 
limbs downward, was next taken up for discussion. 
Mr. Gibbs showed a very interesting example of a ligature of 
wire, in case of a plum tree; the growth being largest above the 
ligature. 
He did not assert that there was a regular circulation from the 
top downward, though this specimen was a step of proof in that 
direction. Neither is he certain of general circulation from root 
to branch. He was in the dark as pertaining to the theory of 
some writers of arterial or veinous circulation. 
He would like to know more of this, as we cannot deny that 
there is circulation in some manner. 
Prof. Porter admitted this to be one of the most abstruse ques- 
tion that horticulturists ask. He divided the wood into four por- 
tions; the heartwood, the sapwood, the present season’s growth, 
