14 THE NURSERY. 



propagated on what they claim to be the ( c whole 

 roots" and compare them with others claimed to 

 be grafted on pieces of roots greatly to the disad- 

 vantage of the latter, 



While these advocates bring considerable excel- 

 lent authority to prove the correctness of their 

 position, there is not an honest nurseryman who 

 does not know at a glance that these photographs 

 are unfairly selected, or that their section root 

 grafts are not at all similar to those grown in the 

 north. If these specimens are fairly chosen it is 

 not strange that they have condemned them. 



On the other hand the advocates of the use of 

 sections instead of the whole root, claim that for 

 the north, or for rigorous climates, a good tree can- 

 not be made in this way, for the reason that, as 

 seedlings as a class are most universally tender, 

 they must be deeply inserted in the ground for 

 protection, and that the tree or cion which is to 

 make the tree, will simply use this piece of a root 

 until it can throw out a system of roots of its own 

 from its own body, which will have all the quali- 

 ties of hardiness or otherwise, possessed by the cion. 



Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of pages have been 

 written pro and con upon this matter. It has been 

 the text of not only the tree peddler, but the 

 wholesaler and propagator, through which they dis- 

 pose, or try to dispose of their goods. The matter 

 seems to us to be very simple. 



First the word ' ' whole root' ' is only a catch 

 word to sound well, for not one of them in their 



