50 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



" A slight effect is sometimes produced by 

 the stock upon the quality of fruit," but ot 

 late our fruit growers have been observing 

 many instances of variation in color, size 

 quality of the same variety which they can 

 account for only by the difference of stocks. 



THE TOLMAN SWEET STOCK. 



AT this meeting Mr. Race showed a 

 beautiful sample of Ben Davis, bright 

 in color, large in size and unusually humped 

 about the basin. This apple he said was 

 grown from Tolman Sweet, and he could 

 account for its superiority only by this fact. 

 He also showed a beautifur sample of Spy, 

 unusually bright in color, which was grown 

 upon a graft set twelve years ago on a Tol- 

 man Sweet, the latter being at that time 

 only four years planted. Not only was the 

 fruit remarkably fine, but the tree was so 

 productive that it was necessary to thin it 

 freely. Anyone wishing to verify his 

 statements could see the trees in the orchard 

 of Mr. Albert Jacobs, near the village of 

 Blyth. 



There was therefore some ground for the 

 advice given by Mr. Race, to plant an 

 orchard of Tolman Sweet trees on which to 

 top graft our best commercial varieties. 



Ix\IPORTANCE OF CAREFUL SELECTIOxN 

 OF CIOX. 



THE writer called attention to the im- 

 portance of greater care than is usu- 

 ally taken in the cutting of cions for graft- 

 ing. Nearly every grower must have 

 noticed a great variation in samples taken 

 from different trees. Greenings, in some 

 instances, are very evenly rounded in form, 

 and have a beautiful red cheek, while in 

 others they are somewhat ribbed, and en- 

 tirely lacking in color. The King apple, 

 usually a scant bearer, has in some instances 

 shown an inclination to produce more 

 abundantly; and the Snow apple is often so 

 distinct in coloring that many have claimed 

 that there are distinct varieties. It is there- 



fore evident that there is individuality in trees 

 as well as in animals, and, if we would 

 attain the highest success in fruit growing, 

 we must propagate these individual excel- 

 lencies, by a more careful selection of cions. 



DOUCIN STOCK FOR THE APPLE. 



IN this connection we note that Prof. 

 Beach, of Geneva, N. Y., has been 

 experimenting with dwarf apples with 

 promise of advantage in these days when we 

 must spray and fumigate and thin and treat 

 so much more carefully than in former 

 years. It is stated on good authority that 

 in England the planting of apples on dwarf 

 stock is increasing of late years for commer- 

 cial purposes. Here is what Mr. S. T. 

 Wright, a prominent English fruit grower, 

 says on this subject : *' I do not hesitate to 

 say that the most paying system of cultivat- 

 ing apples is the growing of a limited 

 number of varieties as dwarf trees on a soil 

 which has proved capable of growing full 

 crops of large apples. The prominent ad- 

 vantages of dwarfs are, (i) Quick returns; 

 standards must do exceptionally well to pro- 

 duce anything like a paying crop in twelve 

 or fourteen years, while dwarfs begin to bear 

 the second year after planting ; (2) all 

 work can be done, from the ground level, 

 while standards require ladders. Mr. L. R. 

 Castle, in an essay before the Royal Horti- 

 cultural Society, states that the most pro- 

 lific varieties of apples on dwarf stock, 

 planted ten by ten feet, or 435 to an acre, 

 taking an average of ten years, will yield 

 from one-fourth to one-half bushel per tree 

 per year, or from one to two hundred bush- 

 els per acre, while well established standards 

 would produce 280 bushels per acre, or 

 more." 



Whether on account of the insect and 

 other pests which we have to treat, it is not 

 desirable to plant dwarfs in Ontario, is of 

 course still problematical, but it is evidently 

 worthy of consideration and perhaps should 

 be well tested at our fruit stations. 



