STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETT. 53 



Mr. Atherton followed the reading of liis paper with some 

 extempore remarks, which led to a general 



DISCUSSION. 



Mr. SwEETSER. I would like to ask Mr. Atherton how high he 

 would want the heads of the trees if he was going to graft them in 

 the limbs? 



Mr. Atherton. That depends upon the variety, and whether 

 ^•ou are going to keep sheep. If you intend to keep sheep in your 

 orchard, you want tall trees. All people who keep sheep select tall 

 trees, and it is an important point with them. 



Mr. 8>VEETSEK. My idea is that there are a great man}- advan- 

 tages in having the heads of the trees low — in gathering the fruit 

 and in its falling, particularly. I have one tree of Seek-No-Farther 

 from which I can stand on the ground and gather eight bushels. It 

 bears well and they never drop ; and mv idea now is that I should 

 prefer low trees. In my first orchard the lowest branches were up 

 six feet from the ground. 



Mr. Gardiner. "Would it not make a ditfercncein different kinds 

 of trees? Look at the Bellflower. If you have it branch at about 

 five feet, half the branches will droop to the ground. The Northern 

 8py grows upright, and therefore should be headed low. 



Mr. Sawyer. I think it likely that I may saj' some things which 

 other members will not agree with. But in regard to this matter of 

 raising Baldwins in Maine, I am not ready to admit, from what I 

 have observed and learned, that we cannot raise Baldwins in the 

 nursery in Maine successfully. My own practice has been very 

 limited, but I have never yet found an}- difficultv- We have had 

 much difficulty with the Baldwin nurser}- trees in Maine, but I think 

 it will be found that the trees which have troubled us most have 

 been root-grafted. Now I believe that a root-grafted tree is not so 

 hardy as one grafted in the trunk or limbs. I do not doubt that a 

 root-grafted tree will live under favorable circumstances, but it will 

 be subject to injury by the severity of the winter. It may be that 

 the time has come when we can make as good a tree by grafting a 

 scion upon a piece of the root — but I have not seen them yet. I 

 have seen a great many root-grafted trees. I notice there is some- 

 times a portion of the tree where there is a large excrescence formed 

 of unsound wood, and this is the point from which the suckers 

 start. I have also observed that root-grafted trees are more 



