CERTAIN ELEMENTS IN NURSERY PRACTICE 185 



greater part of the sweet cherries, and some of the sour ones, 

 are budded on mahaleb roots in eastern nurseries, but cherry 

 trees are not dwarfs thereby. If, however, the grower were to 

 head-in his mahaleb-worked cherries each year, as he is ad- 

 vised to treat dwarf pears, he would be able to have dwarf 

 trees. In like manner, the plum on the myrobalan, the peach 

 on the plum, the apple on the Doucin or even on the Paradise, 

 soon cease to be dwarfs if allowed to grow to their utmost. 

 The pear on the quince affords the most complete dwarf fruit- 

 tree we have, but even this usually soon ceases to be a true 

 dwarf if heading-in is neglected. 



Many varieties of plants are dwarf by nature, and they there- 

 fore do not require to be worked on slow-growing stocks. The 

 Paradise apple is itself such a natural dwarf, and was originally 

 a seedling. Dwarf spruces, pines, viburnums, beans, dahlias 

 and scores of other plants are well known. Such dwarfs are 

 generally propagated by means of cuttings, although some of 

 them, as the garden vegetables and annual flowers, reproduce 

 themselves from seeds. 



With the large areas devoted to fruit-growing in North 

 America, the relatively low price of land and high cost of 

 labor, and the great quantities in which fruit is desired, the 

 dwarf tree is not much in demand. 



Pedigree trees 



P^ormerly the wood for buds and cions was taken more or 

 less indiscriminately from nursery-row or other trees of the 

 desired variety. Now, however, bud-wood or cion-wood is 

 chosen with more care from trees of recognized vigor and pro- 

 lificacy, and the product is advertised as pedigree stock. Of 

 course it is not a pedigree product in the sense in which the 

 term is employed by plant-breeders, for there is no record and 

 no line of breeding. It is merely a form of selection. 



