54 STATE POMOLOQICAL SOCIETY. 



tree that it was grown in a soil and climate unlike onr own, provid- 

 ed, that in other points it is unobjectionable. 



But the phrase " other things being equal " means a great deal, 

 and more than time will allow me here to state ; but I will endeav- 

 or to state a part of it. To do this it will be necessary to show 

 the different methods of practice in raising nursery trees which 

 prevail here and in western New York, and generally further west. 



In New England and the eastern part of New York, it is cus- 

 tomary to plant seedlings of a year or two years old, in rows, and 

 to bud or graft them after becoming established. By this method 

 each tree possesses, as its capital to start upon in life, the whole 

 vitality and strength of an entire new individual seedling. The 

 vitality of an apple seedling centres at the crown — i. e., at that 

 part where the stem and roots join. From this as a centre, strong 

 and supporting roots are sent forth and extend in all directions, 

 pushing before them the leading rootlets ; and such a plant only 

 has the normal amount of vitality upon wHich to start in its career. 

 The scion or bud should, in all cases, be either at or above the 

 crown — never below it. 



The foreign grown trees which are usually offered for sale in 

 Maine, are grown in western New York. The prevailing and 

 almost universal practice there is to propagate by what is called 

 rootgrafting. There would be no objection to rootgrafting, pro- 

 vided a whole seedling root was employed — and but little if the ex- 

 tremities were considerably shortened, for, the crown being retained, 

 the plant would be furnished anew. 



But the practice there is such that only a portion of the trees 

 have any crown at all, such as,iiature furnishes. Their method is, 

 in the first place, to grow seedlings one year in deep, rich, friable 

 soil, so as to secure, mainly, one single, long tap root. They are 

 lifted in the fall, before enduring a single winter's trial in respect to 

 hardiness, put in the cellar, and during winter when other work is 

 slack, they are cut each into several lengths, and a scion spliced 

 upon each and wound about with a bit of waxed paper. They are 

 then packed in sand and kept till spring, when they are planted 

 out with great rapidity. The sole object in adopting this method 

 is to reduce the cost of growing them, by effecting a saving of 

 time and labor, and by performing the work at a leisure time of 

 the year rather than at the busy period. 



To use a whole seedling with good branching roots for each tree 

 would entirely defeat the object in view, since they would be so 



