600 FUNDAMENTALS OF FRUIT PRODUCTION 



Duplessix,^^ writing on apple growing in Brittany, states: "The choice of 

 apple trees furnishing seeds for sowing is very important, for the tree coming 

 from the seed will generally have the principal characters of that tree which 

 supphed the seed. But there are numerous varieties whose wood has a slow, 

 twisting growth, without vigor, and these varieties are not suitable for generating 

 good stocks, which ought to be straight and of a vigorous and rapid growth. 

 Other varieties, as most of the Reinettes and Calvilles, are very subject to canker; 



" It is necessary then to extract the seeds from fruits from trees whose wood is 

 healthy and of a very vigorous growth. Right here is a difficulty for cultivators, 

 for the wood varieties generally used by nurserymen, such as the Frequin de 

 Chartres, Noire de Vitry, Genereuse de Vitry, Maman Lily, yield few fruits or 

 fruits of second quality and, for this reason, are almost unknown in our orchards." 



The same writer carries the matter of selection still further and 

 advocates growing stock from seed of trees corresponding in season of 

 growth inception with those whose grafts they are destined to bear. 



Grafted or Budded Trees. — Certain fruits such as cherries and peaches 

 are propagated customarily by budding and no question is raised as to the 

 value of trees produced in this manner. Some others, as the apple, are 

 readily propagated either by budding or by grafting and the question of 

 preference between trees grown by these methods has been raised fre- 

 quently. There may be a difference in the adaptability to a given locality 

 of budded or grafted trees, but it rests on a basis other than that usually 

 discussed. 



Much of the alleged superiority of budded trees rests on the use of a 

 whole root in budding while in bench grafting one root may be cut to 

 serve three or four cions. It is argued that this Cutting down of the root 

 system produces a tree that is permanently inferior to the budded tree. 

 Budding frequently produces a larger tree in a given time in the nursery 

 than grafting, but there is no positive evidence of any permanent differ- 

 ence in trees raised by the two methods and there is much negative evi- 

 dence that points to the absence of any difference due to the process used 

 per se or the amount of root used per se. 



The real difference between budded trees and grafted trees has been 

 appreciated only in certain sections where the difference was brought 

 out occasionally by the death of one class and the survival of the other. 

 Trees grafted with long cions and short pieces of root and set deep in the 

 nursery tend to throw out roots from the cion, while the seedling root 

 becomes unimportant or dies, as explained elsewhere. Experience has 

 indicated that cion roots arising from wood of varieties that are hardy are 

 themselves more uniformly hardy than the roots on which they are 

 grafted. Such trees are therefore better adapted to localities where root 

 killing is likely. It is regrettable that in recent years so many budded 

 trees have been set in northern fruit growing sections where root grafted 

 cion rooted trees provide an insurance well worth consideration. 



