20 DWARF FRUIT TREES 



over, and more hand work in the course of the year. 

 It is probably not true that apples, pears, plums or 

 peaches in bush or pyramid forms require any more 

 labor or attention than standard trees to secure equally 

 good results. On the other hand it must not be for- 

 gotten, as has already been pointed out, that whatever 

 care may be required is much more easily given the 

 dwarf trees than the standards. 



4. They are not a commercial success. This state- 

 ment, too, though undoubtedly having some truth in 

 it, can not stand without qualification. It is certainly 

 true that no one could grow ordinary varieties of 

 apples, like Baldwin or Ben Davis for instance, on 

 dwarf trees in competition with men who are growing 

 the same varieties on standards. It is probably true 

 that fancy varieties of apples can be grown with profit 

 on dwarf trees, but even this can not be strongly urged. 

 So far as apples are concerned the chief value of 

 dwarf trees for modern commercial enterprises in 

 America will come through their use as fillers between 

 rows of standard trees. In the case of pears the 

 situation is somewhat more favorable to dwarf trees. 

 There are a number of orchards in this country where 

 pears have been successfully grown for market, these 

 many years, on dwarf trees. The famous and every- 

 where planted Bartlett succeeds admirably on the 

 quince stock wherever the soil is suited to it. No 

 successful commercial orchards of dwarf peaches or 

 plums can be cited in this country, individual trees 

 of these kinds even being extremly rare ; yet there 

 is good reason to suppose that under favorable condi- 

 tions dwarf peaches and plums may have some com- 



