336 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
SECRETARY PHILIPS’ EXPERIMENTS IN APPLE 
GROWING. 
Written at my request by E. S. Goff, Professor of Horticulture at the Wisconsin 
Experiment Station, Madison, Wisconsin.—Secretary LATHAM. 
All interested in apple culture in severe climates may see some 
valuable object lessons in the orchards of Mr. A. J. Philips near 
West Salem, Wis. Mr. Philips, who is the present secretary of the 
Wisconsin Horticultural Society, is well known in the Northwest as 
a horticultural writer. Some horticultural writers use the pen with 
greater facility than horticultural tools, but a visit to Mr. Philips’ 
orchard very soon convinces one that his opinions on apple culture, 
which have been so widely published in the Northwest, are grounded 
upon abundant practical experience. 
Mr. Philips’ orchard, like all the successful orchards of the North- 
west, is a good place to study hardy varieties, because it shows ata 
glance the sorts that are capable of enduring severe climatic condi- 
tions. If it does not show the scores of varieties that have failed 
and been consigned to the brush-heap during Mr. Philips’ 27 years 
ofapple growing experience, it does show at once the “ fittest” few 
that have survived. But the most important object lessons in Mr. 
Philips’ orchard are his experiments in top-working on crab stocks. 
Here are to be seen several varieties grown from root-grafts, and 
also top-worked on one or more varieties of crab, which offers oppor- 
tunity to study the effects of top-working. Much might be written 
on this subject, but Ican here touch upon but a few points. Itis 
clearly shown that one variety of crab on Mr. Philips’ grounds, 
viz., the Virginia, is remarkably well adapted as a stock for the 
apple. 
Several years ago, when Mr. Philips was starting his orchard, he 
went to the nursery of the late Mr. Wilcox, of La Crescent, to pur- 
chase some trees. Mr. Wilcox had already commenced top-working 
the Virginia crab, and inquired of Mr. Philips if he preferred top- 
worked or root-grafted trees. Mr. Philips replied that he had no 
faith in top-working and must have the root-grafted trees. After 
filling his order, Mr. Wilcox added, “I want you to try my top-worked 
trees, and if you will promise to plant out a few and give them good 
care, I will make you a present of some.” © To this Mr. Philips agreed 
and was presented with a few top-worked trees of some of the same 
varieties that he had purchased. Today, the only trees of this 
planting that survive are the top-worked ones—the others having 
long since been consigned to the brush heap. 
But this is not the only testimony Mr. Philips has in favor of top- 
working on the Virginia crab. After careful observation through 
several years he finds that he secures larger crops and finer fruit 
from trees top-worked on the Virginia than from root-grafted trees, 
and that when he is looking for fruit for exhibition he has formed 
the habit of going first to his top-worked trees, for they almost al- 
ways carry the finest specimens.: I observed many varieties top- 
worked on the Virginia crab, but failed to find one that has out- 
grown its stock, while varieties worked on Whitney No. 20, or the 
