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108 



The Florists^ Review 



September 9, 1920 



FBUIT STOCK SOURCES. 



[This is the second half of an address on 

 "Fruit Tree Stocks Used In Propagation," de- 

 livered by H. P. Oould, of the Department of 

 Agriculture, at the last meeting of the Ten- 

 nessee State Nurserymen's Association. In the 

 first half, which appeared in The Review Sep- 

 tember 2, Mr. Gould discussed the prevalent 

 dependence of American nurserymen on Burope 

 and the orient for their fruit stoclsa or for 

 seeds for propagating stocks. Here be offers 

 suggestions for improving the situation.] 



I turn to a somewhat speculative 

 phase of the matter, I wonder how the 

 French crab came to be the stock almost 

 universally used in this country in prop- 

 agating apple trees? I'm not at all 

 sure that the French crab is the best 

 stock there is. It is abundant under 

 normal conditions, or has been in the 

 past, and that is, of course, important. 

 But that is not the only important thing. 

 It stands to reason that there are more 

 angles to the stock problem than com- 

 monly realized. We recognize wide dif- 

 ferences in the regional adaptability of 

 our different fruit varieties. Why deny 

 the existence, as is virtually done by 

 our practice, that such differences exi.st 

 in the stocks we use for propagation 

 purposes? We have the humid condi- 

 tions of the east and the arid conditions 

 of the far west. We have the cold of 

 the north and the milder climates of the 

 south. We have the cold, bleak, more 

 or less snowless conditions of the upper 

 Mississippi valley, where we know the 

 ordinary stocks fail, and we have the 

 irrigated valleys of the west. Yet, in 

 the main, we have only one stock for 

 all these regions. 



Too little is known about the influence 

 of the stock on the resulting tree. That 

 influence is much greater and more im- 

 portant than we have let ourselves be- 

 lieve. We admit the influence of stock 

 on scion when we use Paradise and 

 Doucin stocks to dwarf apple trees; and 

 the quince to dwarf pear trees; and 

 when we double-work pears, because 

 some varieties grow poorly or not at all 

 when worked directly on the quince. If 

 this much is conceded, why stop there? 



Seeds Variable. 



The French crab seeds used in this 

 country and in France come from the 

 cider mills and they represent a wide 

 mixture of varieties. The bearing 

 French crab trees are as widely variable 

 as are our varieties of apple trees in 

 size, vigor and habit of growth. There 

 is no reason that I can think of why the 

 seedlings grown from the seeds of fruit 

 produced on such trees should not be 

 widely variable and as a matter of fact 

 they are just as one would expect them 

 to be. The Department of Agriculture 



has several hundred French crab trees 

 that have now. been allowed to grow two 

 seasons in the nursery. They are wide- 

 ly variable. Perhaps some of the named 

 French crab varieties themselves may 

 possess superior value as stocks. If this 

 is true, then it becomes a matter of 

 propagating such varieties as stocks. 



This opens a large field for investiga- 

 tion. It means substantially growing 

 stocks from cuttings or some other 

 asexual method. But the suggestion 

 n\ay brand me as an ignor^jiit heretic, 

 a bland idealist. Stranger things have 

 happened than that we may in the fu- 

 ture be growing apple stocks from cut- 

 tings. 



There is obviously much to be learned 

 and much investigational work to be 

 done before the limitations of propaga- 

 tion by cuttings are definitely known, 

 but the potential possibilities make this 

 method worthy of the most serious con- 

 sideration. The perfection of some 

 method whereby apple and other stocks 

 could be grown successfully from cut- 

 tings would eliminate many difficulties 

 now commonly experienced. 



Apple stocks are the most important 

 and at the same time fairly typical of 

 all the rest. I want to call attention 

 among the pears to a stock that has 

 come out of the orient within the last 

 few years which now seems promising 

 because of its apparent immunity to 

 blight. I refer to what is known as 

 Pyrus ussuriensis. But actual proof of 

 its commercial value and its ability to 

 revolutionize pear propagation awaits 

 future revelation. 



Limited Use of Plums. 



In plums, we have in this country 



some twenty or more native species arid 

 fourteen or fifteen species of cherries 

 which ought to be worth something for 

 stock purposes. Some of them are used 

 to a limited extent, but how much is 

 really known of their value for stock 

 purposes from an industrial standpoint? 

 The office of foreign seed and plant 

 introduction in the bureau of plant in- 

 dustry has brought into this country 

 scores of things that are regarded as 

 possessing great possible value for stock 

 purposes. These potential possibilities 

 need to be fully tested, as is being done 

 as rapidly as limited means and facil- 

 ities .permit. These new and untried 

 things present new problems in con- 

 geniality, the ability of stock and scion 

 to unite well, making not only a physi- 

 cally strong union, but one that is dur- 

 able for the natural life of the tree and 

 one, moreover, so perfect that the top 

 will nourish the roots and the roots, in 



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