142 



THE NURSERY-MANUAL 



matter of habit. The question has practically passed its con- 

 troversial stage. 



Probably the method of propagation whether by bud or 

 graft is not the important factor. The test turns on the 

 size of roots in the grafting process and the method 

 of trimming the stock; and the greater number of 

 manipulations the roots receive in the grafting oper- 

 ation may have some significance. A whole-root 

 grafted tree should be comparable with a budded 

 tree, the entire root system (or practically so) being 

 used in both cases. When it comes 

 to piece-roots, the question re- 

 solves itself into the sizes of the 

 pieces, their age, whether from 

 young seedling stock or from older 

 trees, whether the pieces are used 

 merely as nurses until the cion 

 becomes own-rooted. In certain 

 experiments, the piece-roots have 

 given better account of themselves 

 in after years than the whole 

 roots; in other tests the reverse 

 has been the case. This indi- 

 cates that other factors beside the 

 size of the original root enter into 

 the problem; yet one may con- 

 clude that the whole root is pref- 

 FIG. 160. erable to the piece-root, other 



gr^ap a P "; thin 8 s bein S the Sam 6 ' 

 seedling, i The western-grown apple seed- 

 year. 



\ 



f 



T /-r\' inrv\ i i i FIG. 161. French 



ling (Fig. 160), produced On deep Crab, imported apple 



rich land and with a long growing season, seedling. 



lends itself well to piece-root-grafting. The imported stock, 



known in the trade as French Crab, is likely to be more branchy 



