SELECTING THE TREES 27 



The best nurseries probably use Delicious as a 

 stock for this purpose. Of course when a tree 

 is known to have a good root habit of its own, 

 nothing would be gained by such double 

 working. 



It will be seen from this brief description of 

 the method of growing apple trees that the 

 whole process is simply a means of extending 

 the growth of any particular tree. The scion 

 is nothing but a twig of a certain variety. 

 Nothing has been done to it to change its char- 

 acter. If it had been cut from a Baldwin tree 

 it would still be a Baldwin twig and would in 

 its turn produce another tree of that variety. 

 All that has happened is to provide the physical 

 conditions for that twig to grow into another 

 tree like the one from which it was cut. Noth- 

 ing can possibly change the behavior of that 

 twig except the soil in which it is ultimately 

 planted. If it is planted in a friendly soil it 

 will produce good fruit and if it is placed in 

 poor soil or neglected, it will probably yield 

 only knotty apples. 



In the past few years some nurserymen have 

 attempted to secure high prices for what they 

 called pedigreed trees. Any one who under- 

 stands how a tree is grown will readily under- 

 stand that there can be no such thing as a 

 "pedigreed tree." The claim is made that 

 such trees are propagated from parent trees 



