TOP GRAFTING A PARTICULAR ART. 



23 



especially for our Concord grape. He also 

 described the excellent work in progress of 

 ">reparing a display of Canadian fruits for 

 the Paris Exposition. 



Dr. Hare, of Whitbv Ladies' College, 

 and Mr. J. E. Farewell and Mayor Rout- 

 ledge, of Whitby, gave excellent addresses ; 

 Mr. A. W. Campbell, Provincial Road In- 

 structor, and R. Dawson Harling, agent of 

 the Manchester liners spoke on their special 

 spheres of work. The latter speaker gave 

 fine stereopticon views of the new Man- 

 chester Ship Canal, a route of interest to 

 Ontario fruit growers, since it opens up the 

 whole interior of Ens^land to our eoods. 



It was cheering to have with us three 

 lelegates from the Quebec Society, viz. : 



the president, Mr. C. P. Newman, of 

 Lachine Forks ; the secretary, Mr, W. W. 

 Dunlop, of Outremont, and one of the 

 directors, Mr. R. \V. Shepherd, of Como. 

 This latter gentlemen has had considerable 

 experience in exporting a special grade of 

 fanc}' apples for pri\ ate orders in the Coch- 

 rane case, reaching a class of people in this 

 way who do not hesitate on account of price, 

 providing they get the article wanted. 



This reciprocity of visits and interchange 

 of thought is mutually helpful, and we hope 

 it may long be continued. We are pleased 

 to show our readers the -face of Mr. Dunlop, 

 the secretary, and hope by and by to have 

 the same privilege with Messrs. Shepherd 

 and Newman. 



TOP GRAFTING A PARTICULAR ART. 



■N DISCRIMINATE top-grafting won't do. 

 As well as seeing that we have a 

 robust tree and a good live scion, there 

 i^ should certainly, in my experience, be 

 some approximation as to vigor between the tree 

 grafted and the graft, and also a similarity of 

 wood. For example, if we stick a scion of the 

 Ben. Davis (a very vigorous grower here) on 

 a Scott's winter (a spindling slow-growing tree 

 here), what have we the first autumn even ? An 

 unsightly joint, looking about as well as a man's 

 hat on a child's head : and in the second year 

 the vigorous scion is so top heavy, has so out- 

 grown the limb of the tree to which it has been 

 united that it cannot stand the force of any wind 

 and breaks off" at the joint, thus rendering your 

 time, labor and outlay worse than useless. 

 There is much to be understood before we have 

 this grafting business down to perfection, even 

 if it is an art which the world has known for 

 thousands of years. Not only must we employ 



with a view to secure good fruit from poor 



trees ; not only must we strive to better the 



coloring and texture and flavor of already fairly 



good fruit by a nice adaptation of suitable 



cions, but we must see in all this that the wood 



consideration is attended to and vigorous scions 

 put on vigorous trees and vice versa. The 

 graftsmen who go about now, while they do a 

 good enough job if making scions grow at all, 

 do not understand this important matter as it 

 should be understood — as the breeder under- 

 stands for instance the coupling of his animals 

 in proper fines to develop all the perfections of 

 the breed — and hence it is that many orchard- 

 ists who thought to have dead sea fruit turned 

 into a delight to the palate and a good seller are 

 disappointed to the very point of disgust. " Oh, 

 anybody can graft ! " is the cry of the amateur 

 once he has seen it done, and certainly about 

 anybody can stick on scions which may grow 

 but which are likely to render the last state of 

 his orchard worse than the first. To graft in- 

 telligently and with success as the result sought 

 after, we want without doubt the best trained, 

 most intelligent and most skillful scientists pos- 

 sible, and they must be as honest as they are 

 expert also, or the transformation of unfruitful 

 orchards into fruitful, paying ones is still a desi- 

 deratum for the distant future to satisfy. Mean- 

 time every grower of fruit should consider this 

 matter seriously. A. E. Burke, Alberton, P.E.I. 



