[The Canadian Horticulturi^ 



''ol. XXXI 



MARCH, 1908 



No. 3 



TKe Best StocK on WKicK to Top-Graft tKe Spy 



"W. T, Macoun, Horticulturist, Central Elxperimental Farm, Otta-wa 



THERE is no winter apple so popular 

 in the province of Ontario as the 

 Northern Spy, and its popularity 

 is not confined to Ontario alone. The 

 men who have gone from that province 

 and settled in the newer parts of Canada 

 remember the Spy as the favorite variety 

 of their youth, and they want it in their 

 homes in the west. Owing to its fine 

 appearance and good quality, it is popu- 

 lar in every part of Canada where it suc- 

 ceeds and is in high favor in Great Britain . 

 Because of its popularity there is a 

 great demand for this fruit, and it is 

 proving one of the most profitable apples 

 where there are trees in full bearing. 

 Unfortunately it has one serious defect, 

 which has checked in some measure the 

 general planting of it. It does not bear 

 early enough. The well-known fact 

 that "top-grafts" fruit sooner than 

 standard trees has induced fruit growers 

 to top-graft the Northern Spy either on 

 bearing trees of less value or on young 

 trees planted especially for the purpose. 

 The increasing attention which is being 

 given to top-grafting makes it important 

 that the best stocks for Northern Spy 

 should be known and this article is 

 written partly for the purpose of getting 

 others to give their experience in 

 The Canadian Horticulturist, of 

 top-grafting this variety on dififerent 

 varieties. 



The Northern Spy is a strong-growing 

 tree; hence, in order to have a tree 

 which is not top heavy, and that will 

 not break down, it is necessary to have 

 a strong growing stock, for, although 

 the kind of stock used does in some 

 measure check the growth of the top, 

 the individual characteristics of the two 

 remain largely the same, and if the 

 Northern Spy is top-grafted on a slow- 

 growing tree, it will sooner or later so 

 outgrow it that the tree becomes top 

 heavy, and just when we arc expecting 

 good returns it may blow down or break 

 off at the grafted part. Even strong 

 growing trees sometimes do not make 

 good unions with other strong growing 

 trees. For best results, the Northern 

 Spy should be grafted on a strong grow- 



ing variety which will make a good union 

 with it. At the Central Experimental 

 Farm, parts of three trees were top- 

 grafted with Northern Spy in 1891. 

 Two trees were Wealthy, and one was 

 Duchess. These were chosen as being 

 hardy, and not with the idea that they 

 were especially good stocks for the 

 Northern Spy, nor did thev turn out to 

 be. They all fruited in' 1897. The 

 graft broke off one Wealthy tree during 

 a high wind in 1899, and off the other 

 from the same cause in 1902. The 

 stocks were not strong enough growers 



Ofi&cially Adopted 



At the annual meeting of the 

 New Brunswick Fruit Growers' As- 

 sociation, held at Fredericton on 

 January 24, 1908, it was decided, 

 on motion, to adopt The Canadian 

 Horticulturist as their official 

 organ for the Dominion. — S. B. 

 Hatheway, Secretary. 



and the grafts were top heavy. The 

 grafts on the Duchess tree remained 

 longer, but during the winter of 1903-4, 

 the Northern Spy was killed, the stock 

 remaining alive. If the Spy had not 

 been killed, it would have soon broken 

 off, as it had already begun to go. The 

 results of these tests show the import- 

 ance 'of having strong growing stocks. 

 Mr. G. C. Caston, Craighurst, Ontario, 

 has had considerable experience in top- 

 grafting Northern Spy. Following are 

 extracts from a letter received from him : 

 "I have Northern Spy on many differ- 

 ent stocks — Tolman Sweet, Wealthy, 

 Baxter, Yellow Transparent, on several 

 kinds of crabs, on Belle de Boskoop, and 

 over a dozen of the other Russian vari- 

 eties. I may say that it is doing well 

 on all of them. No variety has done 

 better as a stock for Spy than Yellow 

 Transparent.- The union is perfect, 

 and the top luxuriant. The worst I 

 have tried are Golden Russet and 

 Astrachan." 



49 



Mr. J. I. Graham, Vandeleur, Ontario, 

 stated at the last annual meeting of the 

 Ontario Fruit Growers' Association that 

 he had had good success in the use of Ben 

 Davis as a stock for Northern Spy. In 

 a letter since received from Mr. Graham 

 he states: "My trees were planted in 

 the early '80's. I was guided by the 

 Provincial Agricultural Committee Re- 

 port, which was published in '81. When 

 they began to bear I was not suited with 

 them. I am well pleased with the Ben 

 Davis as a stock. At first I grafted a 

 few of the best varieties, such as King, 

 Baldwin and Hurlbut. The last was 

 highly recommended, but I do not like 

 it, but they are choice trees in every way. 

 No person could tell that they were 

 grafted, and they are very heavy bearers. 

 I have Spys also on Colvert, twenty- 

 five years grafted and a number later. 

 The union is good and stocks sufficiently 

 large. About the time of grafting the 

 Ben Davis, I grafted some Duchess. I 

 was telling you then, and you expressed 

 a doubt about the stock being sufficient- 

 ly large. A year ago the 10th of October 

 last, we had a heavy fall of soft snow, 

 twelve inches, and they were loaded 

 with apples. They broke at the crotch, 

 while about twelve Spys split. They 

 were raised with team, rope and pulley, 

 and had a nice crop. This year the 

 Duchess were done. 



"One spring I grafted ^ number of 

 Colvert, St. Lawrence, Astrachan, and 

 Sherwoods' Favorite. None of the Sher- 

 woods' Favorite I considered a success. 

 Thev seemed to sunscald, to send out 

 shoots and the scions did not grow like 

 the others. I have Spy on Fall Jennet- 

 ting, Fall Pippin, Colvert, Wealthy, 

 Keswick, Codlin, and a seedling. I 

 regard the seedling the best where the 

 branches grow out from the stock with- 

 out making a crotch. I have some old 

 Spy grafts; the tree is twenty-five 

 feet high, and of late years I am trying 

 to cut back about one-half of the year's 

 growth to see if I can get them to bear 

 nearer the ground. That seems to be 

 the fault of the scion even more so than 

 the Spy tree. I have some Ben Davis 



