March 26, 1890.]) 



Garden and Forest. 



155 



In northern New England and the eastern provinces of Can- 

 ada the case is again quite different. Here experience has 

 shown that not one Apple-seedling in a hundred, grown from 

 seeds of fruit brought from lower New England, will survive 

 the test winters. In these sections root-grafted or very low 

 budded trees have exclusive preference, upon quite as solid 

 grounds of experience as top worked trees in southern Maine. 

 If top working is ever successful in the "cold north,'' it must 

 be a double working — the stocks being first root grafted or 

 low budded to some " iron-clad " variety and then reworked 

 in the branches after they have been established in the orchard. 



It may appear strange that such diverse views should pre- 

 vail over what may seem not a very wide extent of country. 

 This extent is greater, however, than many suppose — the 

 extreme distance between the St. Lawrence River and Long 

 Island Sound covering between seven and eight degrees of 

 latitude, with a difference in winter climate as great as that 

 between New Jersey and South Carolina. 



In the Apple-growing region of Maine, extending but little 

 more than fifty miles back from Jthe sea-coast, Apple-seed- 



and the ill repute of " New York trees " is due, not to the way in 

 which they are worked, but to the tenderness of the varieties 

 offered. Root grafted or low budded Oldenburghs, Wealthys, 

 etc., succeed well ; and were it not for the misrepresentations 

 or the ignorance of those nurserymen who are sending out 

 such insufficiently hardy kinds as Mann, Pewaukee or Wolf 

 River, root grafted trees of the "iron clad" varieties would 

 find a large market there. In fact, considerable quantities of 

 New York grown Oldenburghs, Tetofskys, Wealthys, Scott's 

 Winters and Yellow Transparents are now sold there, although 

 the dealers, well aware of the old and strong prejudice, de- 

 clare them to be home grown. 



As all this ignorance, and consequent prejudice, is injurious, 

 alike to the growers and planters of trees, it well behooves all 

 those of the former class to inform themselves thoroughly 

 about the hardiness of every variety they grow. As their loca- 

 tion deprives them of practical experience on the subject, 

 they ought to study the reports of the local horticultural and 

 pomological societies. There is a rich mine of knowledge to 

 be found in the reports of Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Onta- 



Fijj. ?8. — The Cypress of Montezuma. — See page 150. 



lings from home grown seed are usually hardy enough to be 

 used in the orchard for top-working successfully such varie- 

 ties as the Baldwin, Rhode Island Greening, Northern Spy 

 and Roxbury Russet, which are the leading commercial Apples 

 of that section. Not one of these Apples, nor of such fall 

 varieties as Gravenstein and Porter, are hardy enough, except 

 quite near the coast of western Maine, to endure the climate 

 when worked low. So grown, the young trees suffer in the 

 trunk from the hard winters, and become unsound and un- 

 profitable in a very few years. This explains why " New York 

 trees " have so bad a name there ; and the same is the case 

 with the strip of country of about equal width, extending west 

 from Maine to Lake Champlain. 



South of this belt, in southern New Hampshire and Vermont 

 and in the three lower states, low worked trees are again avail- 

 able. The only other section where the conditions of south- 

 ern Maine are encountered is in the upper Champlain Valley. 

 Here, again, the great commercial Apples named must be top 

 worked to be enduring ; but elsewhere in northern New Eng- 

 land and in the provinces a climate is reached in which not 

 even top-worked Baldwins, Greenings, etc., can endure the 

 winters. Here an entirely different class of Apples is called for, 



rio, Quebec and Maine; and every commercial orchardist in 

 those sections, as well as every nurseryman desirous to sup- 

 ply the " cold north " with trees of a quality that will enable 

 them to hold their trade, has need of it. It is quite as neces- 

 sary to know what will not, as what will answer to plant in 

 every county where a sale is sought. There are no better 

 trees than those grown in the New York nurseries, but a sort 

 of supercilious attitude in a few of them stands in direct 

 antagonism to their own interests as well as to those of their 

 patrons. T. H. Hoskins. 



Newport, Vt. ■ — — 



Notes on Hardy Ferns. 



Asplenium Filix-faemina is one of our most common north- 

 ern Ferns, and one of the easiest to transplant. It varies much 

 according to the location. In rich soil, along the margins of 

 swamps, it is frequently over three feet high, with fronds nearly 

 afoot wide; while in other localities, and inpoorsoil.it is often 

 only eight or ten inches high, with fronds proportionately nar- 

 row. These forms are alfvery beautiful, and seem to thrive 

 in moist soil in either sun or shade. The variety angustum 

 of this species has narrow, erect fronds, though often two feet 



