1900.] ESSAYS. 69 



Society in making his selections, and has on his place practically 

 all the apples, pears and plums for which the society oilers 

 prizes during the year, and is able to take premiums with them. 

 He said he has got as many dollars out of seedling trees as from 

 the grafted ones, and the Boussock has stood him in as much as 

 the Bartlett. 



Mr. Parker read an article from the Rural New Yorker, 

 written by Van Deman, in which the writer doubts that the 

 stock has much influence on the scion. Van Deman says the 

 facts are against such a theory. Mr. Parker said he was sur- 

 prised by his friend, Mr. Wheeler, who is so backward in 

 appreciating grafting. Mr. Parker when a boy grafted Bald- 

 wins on sweet apple trees, and in the years since he has sold 

 carload after carload of apples from those grafted trees. He 

 considered grafting a most important thing for fruit growers. 



Mr. Marble replied to the point raised by Mr. Van Deman's 

 article. The only way to thoroughly examine stock, scion and 

 fruit is with the microscope, which he always does. Scions cut 

 from the same tree under identical circumstances and grafted on 

 different varieties of the same fruit show marked differences on 

 close inspection. Of the forty plates of Bartlett and Bosc pears 

 shown at an exhibition of this society you will find very few 

 which closely resemble the type for these pears. Not only is 

 there a variation in the fruit, but also in the scions which arc 

 cut from the growth of trees grafted under the conditions men- 

 tioned above. 



Mr. Hadwen closed the discussion, remarking that it is easy 

 to talk about things we do not know. We have some evidence 

 of the influence of stock on scion, more of the influence of scion 

 on root. But as to the fruit, we come to something different. 

 The Bartlett pear has been grafted millions of times but has not 

 lost its character, showing the powerful effect of scion. There 

 are conditions we can get no inkling of. Why is it that each 

 fruit and tree has the power to produce its fruit and form so 

 distinct from all other varieties, in wood, flower and fruit. 

 This is the great power of nature, which is something away 

 6 " 



