Notes and Gleanings. i S i 



boxes of convenient size. The American Company has furnished a very good 

 package of this kind : it is a basket made of spHnts of wood, so put together as 

 to be sufficiently strong, and yet Hght. The objection to this package consists 

 in the expense, which is too high in proportion to the value of the fruit. The 

 basket should be so cheap as to go with the fruit to the table of the consumer ; 

 and it should never be used a second time. Indeed, after having been once 

 used, they are soiled, and would injure the sale of handsome fruit if it were 

 packed in them : therefore the market-man should realize such a price for his 

 berries as to justify the loss of the package ; but, at the average rates for straw- 

 berries in most markets, the producer cannot afford to lose three cents a q'uart 

 for the package. # * * 



Apple- Root Grafts. —The mode of propagating fruit-trees by using 

 sections of roots has been very fully discussed in years long past, and by sev- 

 eral associations in which were the most intelligent Western nursery-men. The 

 same question is again attracting attention, and has been considerably agitated 

 within the past year. 



It has been decided that a root-graft is only "a cutting helped," and there- 

 fore the result of propagating trees in this way is at least as good as if they 

 were grown from cuttings. And why not grow them from cuttings ? Simply 

 that root-grafts are infinitely more certain to live, and produce more growth at 

 one and two years ; and that some varieties are very hard to strike at all from 

 cuttings. 



But it is said trees grown from root-grafts are more tender in the nursery, 

 and are longer in coming into bearing, than those grafted in the stock or bud- 

 ded. There may be something in this ; and as very intelligent observers are 

 arrayed on the negative side of this question, who cite some strong testimony, 

 it may be well to pause, and examine a little into the matter. 



There can be no reason why plants grown from cuttings should not be a."^ 

 good as those produced by the same cutting grafted. Do we not propagate 

 the currant, gooseberry, grape, and a hundred other plants, in this way ? and 

 nobody ever suggested that the fruitfulness of these varieties, their tenderness 

 or hardiness, or any other quality, was affected by the manner of their propaga- 

 tion. 



In rich soils highly cultivated, and in late-growing seasons, it may often happen 

 that the young apple-trees in their first year will not have completed their growth 

 in good season, cast their leaves, and prepared for winter. Here is where the 

 tenderness of root-grafts comes in. An early frost of considerable severity finds 

 them full of sap, and all unprepared for the attack : the bark is burst near the 

 ground, and often, during a severe winter, the pith is injured ; and such trees, 

 though they may survive, will always show discoloration at the heart. They 

 need not be condemned, however ; they need not be lost: all that is necessary 

 will be to cut them off at or near the ground the next spring, and let them start 

 again, and they will make noble specimens the second year. If they have been 

 banked up with the plough in the autumn, as such trees always should be in the 

 end of their first year at least, there will be plenty of sound wood to cut to, and 



