Il8 THE NEW HORTICULTURE. 



will show a vast superiority in resisting drought. In fact, 

 there was a time when I hesitated to advise the putting of 

 trees planted with long roots, spread out in large holes, down 

 to grass, but I have seen several orchards thus treated and 

 well fertilized that are doing exceedingly well. Anyhow, it is 

 better that than have the trees die in eight or ten years, as all 

 thoroughly pruned, plowed and cultivated ones do all over the 

 southern half of the United States. In higher latitudes, with 

 short and cooler summers, such treatment is by no means as 

 injurious to the life of the trees, but does everywhere greatly 

 deteriorate the quality of the fruit and render it much more 

 liable to rot. 



INFLUENCE OF SCION ON THE STOCK. 



I will now close this chapter with a few remarks on the 

 reciprocal influence of the stock and scion as affecting the 

 longevity of fruit trees, especially the peach and apple. The 

 general opinion among fruit-growers is that grafted and 

 budded trees are shorter-lived than seedlings. This is un- 

 doubtedly true, and due to the fact that every seedling prefers 

 its own wood to that of another, especially a peach. This is 

 plainly shown where a shoot from the stock is allowed to 

 grow, for it will not only rob and check the growth of the 

 scion, but generally in a few years actually kills it. While 

 that is well known, the opposite of this, though true, is not 

 well known, which is that if the scion or tree be planted deep 

 enough to allow it to strike roots it will in a few years estab- 

 lish itself entirely on them and ultimately kill the stock with 

 all its original deeper roots. Of course, that will leave the 

 tree merely a shallow surface system, within easy reach of 

 the plow and cultivator, resulting in a gradual weakening 

 of the tree, until finally during a severe drought, and when 

 loaded with fruit, it fails and dies. That is undoubtedly the 

 cause of the early death of thousands of peach and apple 

 trees when they should be in their prime. The lesson of this 

 is that all budding should be done at least eight or ten inches 

 above ground, to allow the point of union to remain above the 



