Match, 1910 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



57 



Grafting Nursery Stock 



Edward Lane, Gait, Ontario 



I 



NINETY-FIVE per cent, of fruit- 

 growers purchase trees from some 

 nurseryman who grows trees on the 

 principle of quick returns for his money. 

 In order to get these quick returns, there 

 are two mistakes made. The faster a 

 tree grows, the more likely it is to be 

 a failure when removed, as the change 

 is greater. A tree which has made mo- 

 derate growth is easier transplanted 

 than one which has made extraordinary 

 growth. The second mistake is in the 

 mating of grafts and stocks. What 

 fruit grower has not noticed that some 

 trees will persist in throwing up suckers 

 around the roots, oftentimes above 

 where the graft was put on? 



There is from one to fifteen days' dif- 

 ference in the leafing out of different 

 kinds of apples and a corresponding dif- 

 ference or even greater length of time in 

 going to rest in the fall. If there hap- 

 pens to be ten or fifteen days' dif- 

 ference between the seasons of stock and 

 of the scion, there is sure to be a certain 

 amount of failure as we are working 

 against Nature. The roots will be send- 

 ing up sap when the parts above ground 

 do not want it, and it goes to form what 

 we call suckers, sometimes from the 

 roots and sometimes from the body of 

 the tree just above ground, showing 

 plainly that one is at rest and the other 

 is not., 



Grafts taken from young trees or side 

 shoots from an older one will grow much 

 faster than those taken from the outsides 

 of full bearing trees. If left to their 

 own way, they will not bear fruit as 

 soon as the latter, neither will they stand 

 a severe winter as well. The reason is 

 that the large roots, commonly called 

 "tap" roots, are the ones which send 

 up sap for the forming of wood growth 

 and the surface or small fibres send up 

 .sap to form fruit bearing wood. The 

 large roots are deeper down into the soil 

 and are affected by the heat of the soil 

 and continue to send up sap longer than 

 he surface roots which are affected by 

 the early frosts and consequently the 

 wood is not so well ripened and a fast 

 growing young tree is almost sure to 

 .have large roots instead of small ones. 



A fruit grower, in order to be suc- 

 cessful, must control the roots and there- 

 by he controls the sap which poes to 

 make either wood or fruit in the same 

 way that a farmer controls bone, muscle 

 or fat when he chooses the food for his 

 animals. 



I believe that under a powerful micro- 

 scope the cells of bearintj and non-bear- 

 ine wood will be found to bo different- 

 Iv formed ; if so, we must start our trees 

 bearing as young as possible. There is 

 no reason why a tree should not com- 

 mence to bear as soon as it is well estab- 



lished in its place and continually bear 

 every year when the sap is led to do its 

 work rightly. 



INFLUENCE OF STOCK ON SOION 



In respect to the effect of the stock 

 upon the graft : I have noticed that, in 

 some instances, it has a considerable ef- 

 fect on the habit of growth but not so 

 much on the fruit. Twenty-five years 

 ago, I purchased two Duchess apple 

 tiees. One of them assumed a habit of 

 growth foreign to that variety so much 

 so that I concluded that it was not a 

 Duchess at all ; but, when I picked the 

 fruit and placed samples from the two 

 trees together, I could not tell one from 

 the other. The tree would persist in 

 throwing up suckers which resembled 

 the Spy in growth and in time of leafing 



or four feet. All old canes and any new 

 growth not needed are cut out at the 

 .same time. 



After removing all clippings from the 

 field, we take cotton twine, such as groc- 

 ers use, and tie the canes in bunches of 

 six or eight each, taking care to have 

 them bracing in such a way that when 

 tied near the top, they will be stiff 

 enough to carry their fruit and foliage 

 without bending or breaking down. 



The berries are then easily picked and 

 are free from dirt. We try to pick three 

 times a week, and place the fruit before 

 the consumer as quickly as possible. Al- 

 though our market is well supplied with 

 wild raspberries and also blueberries, the 

 demand for the cultivated raspberries 

 continues good. With King for early, 

 Herbert for medium, and Cuthbert and 

 ("•olden Queen for late, we have a full 

 month of raspberry picking. A few of 



Kin{ Ratpberriei Growing on the Farm of Mr. John C. Gilman, Near Fredericton, New Brunswick 



out. It died when fifteen years old, 

 while the other has never shown any 

 sign of a sucker and is healthy yet. 



One of the principal causes of some 

 kinds of apples not being as good as 

 they were thirty or forty years ago, is 

 the practice of taking grafts from young 

 trees exclusively. This practice in about 

 thirty years would result in twenty dif- 

 ferent kinds of stock, while if scions are 

 taken from one tree for thirty years, 

 (here would be only one change instead 

 of twenty. The fruit growers of the fu- 

 ture will require pedigree stock in trees. 

 A haphazard system leads to great dif- 

 ficulties and many changes in type. 



the purple and black varieties have been 

 tried but the demand for them is small. 

 We have stopped setting these kinds. 



Raspberries in New Brunswick 



J. C. Gilman, Fredericton 



In growing raspberries, we find it best 

 in our section to grow to single canes, 

 without any branches. These canes are 

 cut back the following spring to three 



Pruning Sweet and SourChcrries 



F. G. Stewart, Homer, Ont. 



Plant the young sweet cherry trees 

 first and then prune back to four prongs, 

 six or eight inches long. In cutting 

 back be sure to leave the end or ter- 

 minal bud on the outside of each limb 

 to make the tree spread outwards in 

 growing. If the young trees are pruned 

 first and then planted, there is danger of 

 some of the young buds being rubbed 

 off in handling them, as they develop 

 early and are quite prominent. 



Do not touch them again until they 

 have made two years' growth, then with 

 plenty of wood to choose from, trim so 

 as to form a spreading, shapely tree. 

 Let the trees alone for two years longer 

 and then cut back the central upright 



