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THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



May, 191a 



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MDBDCO 



BOSE 

 lAKBM 

 POWDER 



NA-DRU-CO Royal Rose 

 Talcum is as comforting to 

 Baby's tender skin as it is 

 to Mother's wind-chafed cheek or 

 Father's chin smsuling aJler a shave. 

 Its remarkable fineness — its pro- 

 nounced heeJing, antiseptic qualities 

 — and its captivating odor of 

 fresh-cut roses ■ — • have won for 

 Na-Dru-Co Roycil Rose Talcum 

 the favored place on the dressing 

 tables amd in the nurseries of the 

 moS discriminating people. 



25 c. a tin, at your Druggist's — 

 or write for free seunple to the 



NATIONAL DRUG AND CHEMICAL CO. 

 OF CANAbA, UMHED, - MONTREAL 



191 



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FLOWER POTS 



HanginglBaskets, Ferns Pans, Etc. 





We have fa large *tock of 

 all sizes on hand, and can 

 ship orders without delay. 



Order Now Before the Roth 



Our pots are amooth and 

 well burnt. We have our re- 

 putation to keep up. 



Send for Catalogue & Price List 



The Foster Pottery Company, Ltd. 

 Main St., West -^ Hamilton 



The Bissell 



GARDEN HARROW 



By adding wings to the 

 Biseell Garden Disc har- 

 row it extends over 10 ft. 

 wide. With wings de- 

 tached it is 4 feet wide- 

 Adjustable — single horse, 

 or light two-horse har- 

 row. Low or high seat. 

 Eeveraible— In-throw to Out-throw. Cuta 

 clean, even furrow and is a strong, dur- 

 able Harrow. Call on local dealer or 

 write Dept- N for catalogue. 



T.E. Bissell Co., Ltd., Elora, Ont. 



See ad. of Orchard Disc Harrow paj^e x. 



Pedigreed Nursery Slock * 



U. t. Uedrkk, N. Y. Ex|MrnMBt Siatioa 



My owu beliet is that tiicre i-s nolbiiig to 

 gain even though there be a scintilla of 

 truth iu the claims of those who would have 

 nursery slock sold with a pedigree. I be- 

 lieve that we should be doing great injus- 

 tice to nurserymen, and indirectly there- 

 fore to fiuit-growiug, should we require 

 growers of trees to i.ike buds or grafts ouiy 

 from the bearing plants which seem to be 

 superior to other individuals of their kind. 

 1 believe that a Iruitgrower can spend his 

 time to belter advantage tbau in attempt- 

 ing to breed fruit trees by bud selection. 



The practical difficulties in growing tree.-, 

 from seacied buds, granting for the minute 

 that improved stock may be so obtained, are 

 aimost insuperable. The following are a 

 tew of them : 



rirst, a bearing tree surpassingly good in 

 one quality, may be deficient in others. A 

 tree bearing large apples might be unpro- 

 ductive, subject to tuugi or insects, lacking 

 in vigor or nardineas, or short-liveu. tieleci^ 

 iiig for one quality will not do. The more 

 qualities, the more difficult the tree to find 

 and the more complicated is selection. 



Second, the selected buds must be worKed, 

 iu the case of tree fruits, on roots that are 

 variable. To have "pedigreed" trees it is 

 necessary to have "peajgreed" roots a« well 

 as "pedigreed" tops. 



Third, the cost of trees would be vastly' 

 increased if nurserymen were required to 

 bud from or to go back every few genera- 

 tions to beariusj trees. Opportunities for 

 dishonest practices would be greatly multi- 

 plied. The advertisements of some wno 

 sell "pedigreed" stock are an insult to au 

 intelligent man and are only a foretaste ol 

 ivhat we shall have if fruitgrowers force 

 nurserymen to compete iu selling "pedi- 

 greed" stock. 



Jf'ourth, it is the experience of those who 

 have taken buds from bearing trees that the 

 resulting nursery plants lack vigor, and re- 

 main weaklings for several years. 



Fifth, if pedigreed trees become the 

 vogue, tree-growing must become a petty 

 business. Climate aud environment would 

 permit nurserymen who are growing pedi- 

 greed stock to propagate only a half dozen 

 varieties of any fruit. Not more than this 

 number of sorts is so pre-eminently adapted 

 to any one geographical region as lu give 

 good mother trees. 



Sixth, fruit trees are not sufficiently well 

 fixed in their characters to make selection 

 from single "best" trees worth while even 

 should their characters be transmissible. 

 Thus, trees in many cases do not show their 

 best attributes until late in life; or to the 

 contrary fail as they grow older; or are 

 affected for better or worse by moisture, 

 food, or physical conditions of soil in cer- 

 tain seasons ; or insects and fungi may 

 give them a variable and uncertain stand- 

 ing. A nurseryman with the best inten- 

 tions might thus propagate from a pre- 

 possessing tree only to find later that he 

 and his customers had been deceived. 



Seventh, heritable variations can be told 

 only by growing the parts bearing them — by 

 studying the offspring, not the ancestor: by 

 looking forward, not backward. This is im- 

 possible in the nursery. 



In conclusion, the burden of proof is upon 

 those who advocate pedigreed trees, for the 

 present practices of propagating fruit plant's 

 are justified by the precedents of centuries. 



•Extract from an address delivered at the 

 meeting of the New York State Fruit Growers 

 at Rochester. January, 1912. 



