1084 



DWARFING 



DYSCHORISTE 



would be sufficiently permanent to make the trees 

 so obtained worth while, remains to be seen. 



The great advantage of a dwarf tree is its small size, 

 which permits the planting of more varieties of a fruit 

 in a small space. Dwarf fruits, then, deserve, in par- 

 ticular, the consideration of amateur fruit-growers and 

 of those who want small-growing fillers for permanent 

 orchards. Trees of small size are easier to prune, 

 spray, and to care for in every way. Because of the 

 low stature and compact head of the dwarfs, wind 

 causes less injury to trees and crops. 



1369. Dyckia rariflora. 



Another very material advantage of the dwarfs is 

 that they come into bearing earlier than the standards. 

 The desirability of early bearing from several stand- 

 points is obvious. Advocates of dwarf fruits very 

 generally assert that the fruit from the dwarf trees is 

 of higher quality, higher color and better flavor. As a 

 generalization, this is not true, though it probably is 

 true for a few varieties of each of the several fruits 

 under consideration. Tests of many varieties of apples 

 on dwarf and standard stocks on the grounds of the 

 New York Agricultural Experiment Station show that 

 more often the fruit from standard trees is the better. 

 Pear-growers have found that comparatively few 

 varieties of this fruit are improved in the qualities 

 named by growing as dwarfs. Size, color and quality 

 of fruit are as likely to be affected deleteriously as 

 beneficially by dwarfing. 



Dwarf stocks are much used to adapt varieties to 

 soils. This is the chief value of most of the propaga- 

 ting plants named for the stone-fruits. The true 

 purpose of such stocks must be clearly kept in mind 

 the dwarfing in this case is a disadvantage attendant 

 upon the use of the stock for another purpose. 



The disadvantages of dwarfing stocks, in America 

 at least, are rather more pronounced than their advan- 

 tages. They may be summed up as follows: Nearly 

 all dwarf trees are shorter-lived than standards the 

 exceptions are very few. All dwarf trees, whether 

 trained in fancy forms or free-growing, need more care 

 than standard trees. The chief items needing extra 

 care are pruning,- tilling and fertilizing. It is more 

 difficult to propagate dwarf trees and the cost of the 

 plants is therefore greater, making the cost an acre, 

 with the increased number of trees, much greater. 

 Lastly, it is most difficult to secure trees, especially of 

 apples, on dwarfing stocks that are known to be true 

 to name. 



In conclusion, it may be said that we have just 

 passed through one of the recurring periods of interest 

 in dwarf trees in America and that commercial fruit- 

 growers are more than ever convinced that for the 

 present, at least, dwarf trees are of little value to them. 

 The place of these trees is in gardens of amateurs and 

 on the estates of those who can afford to grow and 



train them for their beauty as well as for their fruit. 

 There is, however, a possible future for dwarf fruits 

 in cpmmerical plantations, when the refinements of 

 horticulture have been carried far enough to show the 

 special adaptations of varieties of the several fruits 

 to different stocks and when the care of dwarf trees 

 is better understood. u. P. HEDRICK. 



DYCKIA (after Prince Salm-Dyck, German botanist, 

 and author of a great work on succulent plants). 

 Bromeliacese. Succulents, grown under glass and in the 

 open far South. 



Dyckias somewhat resemble century plants, but with 

 smaller spines, as a rule, and flowering regularly. They 

 are usually stemless, and the Ivs. form dense rosettes. 

 About 60 species in S. Amer. For cult., see Agave. 

 They are rarely cult, in Fla. and Calif., and in a few 

 northern collections. Following have showy yellow fls. 



A. Infl. amply branched or panicled. 

 altissima, Lindl. (D. princeps, Lem.). Lvs. spiny at 

 the margin: floral bracts small, all manifestly shorter 

 than the fls. Brazil. 



AA. Infl. not branched, a raceme or spike. 

 B. Filaments forming a tube: fls. with scarcely any 



pedicel. 



rarifldra, Schult. Fig. 1369. Lvs. with small spines 

 on the margin, shorter than in D. altissima: sepals not 

 emarginate at the apex; upper sheaths of the scape 

 shorter than internodes. Brazil. B.M.3449. B.R. 1782. 



BB. Filaments not forming a tube all the way: fls. with a 



short but conspicuous pedicel. 



sulphftrea, C. Koch, not Baker. Lvs. with small 

 spines at the margin: sheaths of the scape longer than 

 the internodes, the higher ones entire: bracts lanceolate, 

 the lowest conspicuously longer than the pedicelled fls. : 

 blades of petals wide and longer than stamens. Brazil. 



WILHELM MILLER. 



DYPSIS (obscure name). Palmaceze, tribe Arecese. 

 Madagascar palms that have been poorly described, 

 are little known and of scarcely any horticultural sig- 

 nificance. They are all small, unarmed palms, with reed- 

 like sts.: Ivs. terminal, entire, bifid at the apex or pin- 

 natisect; segms. split at the apex or irregularly toothed, 

 the apical one confluent; sheath short: spadices long, 

 loosely fld.: fr. small, oblong or ovoid, straight or 

 curved, oblique at base. Perhaps half a dozen species. 



No species of Dypsis are common in cultivation, as 

 they possess but little beauty. They are among the 

 easiest and quickest to germinate. All of them require 

 a stove temperature. D. madagascariensis, Nichols, 

 is also known as Areca madagascariensis, Mart., and 

 is so treated here. D. pinnatifrons, Mart. (A. grdcilis, 

 Thouars), is one of several plants that have been known 

 as Areca gracilis. It is a pretty palm, now grown in 

 large quantities by some dealers. G.C. II. 24:394. 

 The genus is closely related to Chamaedorea. 



N. TAYLOR-f 



DYSCHORISTE (name refers to the scarcely divided 

 or lobed stigma). Incl. Calophanes. Acanthdcese. 

 Fifty or more annuals or perennials of the tropics of 

 Amer., Afr., and Asia, allied to Ruellia and Stro- 

 bilanthes. None of them is apparently in regular cult. 

 They are plants with opposite mostly entire small 

 Ivs. and blue or pale fls. in short-stalked cymes. D. 

 nobilior, C. B. Clarke (D. Hildebrandtii, Lind.), is a 

 free-flowering shrub, with a penetrating odor, and 

 hairy branches: Ivs. elliptic, nearly 2 in. long, slightly 

 crenulate: fls. purple-blue in many distant and dense 

 axillary cymes; corolla less than ^in. long. Brit. Cent. 

 Afr.; recently cult, at Kew. 



