THE NURSERY. 15 



arguments claims to use only a piece of the root, but 

 they claim that the piece is longer than a shorter 

 piece used by others, and that but one tree is made 

 from one seedling. So the question is really as to 

 the merits of "crown grafting" or making the 

 splice only at a point where the root and top meet, 

 or by the other system, using not only this cut of 

 the seedling but one or two others below it. Even 

 the Hon. Secretary of Agriculture has, in a paper 

 on "Early Nebraska Horticulture" made the mis- 

 take of attributing the short life and inferior pro- 

 ductiveness of Nebraska apple trees as compared 

 with those of Michigan, to the root grafted trees 

 of the former and top grafted of the latter. While 

 it is true that trees of most kinds as grown in 

 Nebraska are inferior to those grown in the humid 

 climate of Michigan, and that apple trees are 

 shorter lived here than there, it is not true that our 

 trees are less productive than theirs. The oppo- 

 site is true, and especially is it true that our trees 

 come into bearing much earlier. If there were no 

 other conditions that might be urged to explain 

 the shorter period of life but the manner of propa- 

 gation, how shall he explain the fact that peaches 

 are grown in Michigan nearly 200 miles further 

 north than his home in Nebraska ? Ex-Governor 

 Furnas has declared that peaches cannot be raised 

 practically any where in the State of Nebraska. 

 The south line of Michigan runs through about 

 the center of Nebraska. If we are to find an 

 explanation for this, we must look for it in some 



