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Garden and Forest. 



[Number 206. 



The Aspect of Trees in Winter. 



THE genuine lover of trees finds it difficult to de- 

 cide at what season they are the most attractive. 

 Even in the dreariest period of the year they display 

 beauties which are hidden by the luxuriant foliage of sum- 

 mer, and it is only by a study of their naked frame-work 

 that we can discern the reason for their most characteristic 

 appearances at other seasons. One of the most distinctive 

 aspects of a tree in summer is found in the way in which 

 the masses of its foliage break into lights and shadows. A 

 glance at an Oak or Chestnut in the winter will show that 

 the trunks of these trees divide into a comparatively small 

 number of large branches, which leave deep irregular open- 

 ings for dark shadows in the foliage in strong contrast with 

 the light on well-defined masses. The smoother surface of 

 a vigorous young Sugar Maple in leaf shows smaller and 

 more numerous tracts of light and shade, and this is caused, 

 as can be readily seen in winter, by the more numerous 

 and slender branches of nearly equal length which radiate 

 at a uniform angle from the central stem. Again, the ap- 

 pearance of trees in summer is influenced greatly by the 

 way in which the masses of foliage sway in the wind, and 

 this movement depends on the length and flexibility of the 

 branches. The skeleton of the tree, therefore, not only de- 

 termines its contour, but it is this structure rather than the 

 mantle of leaves which determines the fundamental ex- 

 pression of the tree, whether of majesty or grace, of cheer- 

 fulness or gloom. 



We have often invited attention to the marvels of color 

 and texture displayed by the bark of various trees, to the 

 soft tints and varied grace of the spray of different species, 

 and to the delicate tracery of their interlacing branches 

 when seen against the sky. All these can best be seen in 

 winter, and perhaps we are more attracted by beauty of 

 this sort at a season when the fields have no verdure, and 

 the waysides no flowers, to withdraw our attention. The 

 more we study them the more we shall discover to excite 

 admiration, and we may find something characteristic even 

 in the smallest twig or the dead leaf which still clings to 

 it. Gilpin long ago, in his delightful book on forest- 

 scenery, showed that the English Oak develops naturally 

 into its wide-spreading form because of the almost hori- 

 zontal divergence of the young branches from the stem, 

 and that this same rectangular structure which gives the 

 tree its massive and sturdy appearance can be seen 

 throughout the entire system of branches to the remotest 

 spray. The picture of the extremity of a Black Oak-branch 

 (Quercus tinctoria), on page 55, from one of the series of 

 remarkable photographs with which Dr. Rollins has kindly 

 favored us, might stand by itself as the type or emblem of 

 a northern winter; and the persistency with which the dead 

 leaves have clung, in spite of bitter winds, is a convincing 

 proof of the tough and enduring fibre of the tree. On an 

 Oak of this sipecies which stands alone on some wind-swept 

 upland many of the leaves by midwinter are torn like old 

 banners, and their strong stems are twisted into bundles 

 of yellow cords. When the leaves are finally swept away 

 the ends of these fibres still cling to the spray and present 

 a weird, blossom-like appearance, which reminds one of 

 Witch Hazel flowers. All these will be seen beautifully 

 brought out in the picture, together with the perfect form 

 of the buds and the close texture of the bark. 



From an article which appeared in the Minneapolis 

 Tribune, of January 19th, it would seem that the leading 

 opposers of the proposed forest-reservation in northern 

 Minnesota have been converted from enemies into friends 

 and have enlisted as promoters of the movement. The 

 Duluth Chamber of Commerce stood in the front of the 

 fight against the reservation, which, in the eyes of the 

 merchants of that town, seemed to threaten its business by 

 crippling the railways and withholding its supplies of lum- 

 ber and minerals. Mn Thompson, the Secretary of the 



Chamber, was, therefore, sent to the annual meeting of 

 the State Forestry Association, at Minneapolis, to make pro- 

 test against the movement, but when he learned that in- 

 stead of withholding the timber from use it was proposed 

 to secure -a constant lumber-supply, and that the forests, 

 when protected from fire and larceny and skillfully man- 

 aged, would be much more productive than it is under the 

 present lack of supervision, Mr. Thompson himself joined 

 the association, and was made a member of the executive 

 committee, which is laboring to induce the President to 

 make the proclamation withdrawing the timber-lands from 

 sale and entry. If this reservation is established and 

 placed under judicious control, it will doubtless prove a 

 lasting benefit in many ways to the people of the United 

 States. 



Is Grafting a Devitalizing Process? — II. 



WE herewith present the conclusion of the paper read 

 by Professor L. H. Bailey before the Peninsula 

 Horticultural Society. In the first part of the paper it was 

 contended (i) that any number of examples of unsuccess- 

 ful grafting do not prove that the practice itself is harmful, 

 and (2) that it is a fallacy to assume that grafting is un- 

 natural, and therefore pernicious. 



3. Itissaid that own-rooted plants are better than foster-rooted 

 ones. This is merely an assumption, and yet it has been held 

 with dogmatic positiveness by many writers. If mere unnatu- 

 ralness, that is, rarity or lack of occurrence in nature, is no 

 proof of perniciousness, tlien this statement admits of argu- 

 ment just as much as any other proposition. And surely at 

 this day we should test such statements by direct evidence 

 rather than by a priori convictions. And here I will repeat 

 that the citation of any numlier of instances of the ill effects of 

 graft is no proof that own-rooted plants are necessarily better, 

 if there should still remain cases in which no injurious effects 

 follow. Now, if it is true that "own-rooted things are al- 

 ways infinitely better, healthier and longer-lived" than foster- 

 rooted plants, and if "grafted plants of" all kinds are open to 

 all sorts of accidents and disaster," then the proposition must 

 admit of most abundant proof. I will analyze the subject by 

 discussing the following questions : a. Is the union always 

 imperfect ? b. Are grafted plants less virile than own-rooted 

 ones? Are tliey shorter-lived ? 



a. It is well known that the physical union between cion and 

 stock is often imperfect, and remains a point of weakness 

 throughout the life of the plant. But this is not always true. 

 There are scores of plants which make perfect physical unions 

 with other plants of their own species, or even with other spe- 

 cies, and it follows that these alone are the plants which 

 should be grafted. The very strongest proof which can be 

 adduced that the union may be physically perfect can be seen 

 in the micro-photograph of an Apple-graft, published two 

 years ago in the American Garden (,xi., 65), by Professor C. S. 

 Crandall. The cells are knit together so completely that it is 

 impossible to determine the e.xact line of union. I have in my 

 possession a number of the micro-photographs, taken by Mr. 

 Crandall, which show the same condition. (Tliese were ex- 

 hibited at the convention.) Mr. Crandall also figures, on the 

 same page, a microscopic section of an Apple-graft in which 

 the union is very poor, but this graft was made in a different 

 manner from the other, and presents another proof that the 

 operation should be suited to the subject. 



These were grafts made upon nursery stock, and it would 

 appear that if the union were good at 'the expiration of the 

 first year it would remain good throughout the life of the 

 plant. In order to test this point, I procured two Apple-trees, 

 fifteen years old and over six inches in diameter, which had 

 been grafted at the surface of the ground in the nursery. In 

 the presence of two critical observers I split the trunks into 

 many pieces, but no mark whatever could be found of the old 

 union. The grain was perfectly straight and bright through 

 the crown. I am the more willing to cite this case because I 

 had fully expected to find a decayed or dead portion, or con- 

 torted grain, at the point of union ; but every internal evidence 

 of a graft had disappeared. 



So far as the strength of a good union is concerned, all fruit- 

 growers know that trees rarely break where they are grafted. 

 Tliere is an old seedling orchard upon my father's farm into 

 which many grafts had been set. I have myself set many 

 hundreds of these grafts in the tops of the trees, often far out 



