558 



Garden and Forest. 



TNUMBER 248. 



lowing. In Fig. 95 are shown specimens of the work of the 

 larvse in a burnt scrub Oak 



When these insects have been abundant, the fallen branches 

 should be gatliered and burnt during the winter; this will, of 

 course, destroy the larvae contained in them. When infested 

 Oaks are near orchards this course is imperative, because the 

 insects also attack Apple and other pomaceous fruit-trees. 



Rutgers College, New Brunswick, N. J. Jolltt B. Smith. 



Cultural Department. 



Top-grafting Apples. 



THERE are few questions in orcharding so unsettled as 

 that of the eftect of the stock upon the cion. In root- 

 grafting and nursery budding it is pretty generally conceded 

 that the effect is nil, or nearly so ; but when it comes to graft- 

 ing or budding on the branches of bearing trees, the general 

 opinion seems to be, among ordinary observers, that sonie 

 effect upon the size and quality of the fruit may take place. 

 To determine such a question with entire accuracy manifestly 

 would require much more careful, systematic and long-con- 

 tinued tests than we have any account of. I am sure it woidd 

 be profitable to have a long series of experiments carefully 

 made at some of our agricultural college farms with a 

 view of settling the matter, as in commercial orcharding, espe- 

 cially, it may often be that a right decision would be of large 

 pecuniary importance. 



Some of the claims made in regard to these effects have 

 been manifestly untrue. Millions of nursery trees have been 

 sold through our extreme northern states which were stated to 

 be made entirely safe against winter-killing by being grafted 

 upon Siberian Crab stocks. This pretense has disappeared, and 

 the trees sold under it have disappeared almost as soon. Not 

 -Only were the grafts no hardier, but the Crab stocks proved 

 very short-lived, and, of course, the tops could not survive the 

 roots, even when they were themselves of iron-clad varieties. 



I am led to discuss this topic just now by noticing in a re- 

 port of the Canadian Horticultural Bureau a question put by a 

 member of the Committee of the House of Commons on Agri- 

 culture and Colonization to Mr. John Craig, horticulturist in 

 charge of the Dominion Horticultural Experiment Stations at 

 Ottawa. This question was : " If a winter Apple is grafted on 

 a summer Apple, what is the effect ? " Mr. Craig's reply was : 

 '' The theory is, that it hastens the ripening season and less- 

 ens the keeping qualities." But there was no evidence that Mr. 

 Craig indorsed this "theory"; and in my own fifty years of 

 observation and experience in fruit culture I have never seen 

 any conclusive evidence that such an effect had been pro- 

 duced. 



Now, this is by no means saying that no effect is produced by 

 such grafting. We are all aware that the grafting or other 

 working of Apples upon the Paradise or Doucain stocks, and 

 of Pears upon Quince stocks, has a decided effect in causing 

 early fruiting of the grafts — usually attended, or followed, by a 

 decided abbreviation of the life of the graft, unless it is so 

 deeply planted as to prevent it from throwing out indepen- 

 dent roots of its own. This knowledge is quite in line with 

 what has been referred to above as the result of grafting our 

 common Apples upon Siberian Crab stocks. The life of the 

 graft can be no longer than that of its stock. 



It has often been noted and recorded in our journals and 

 books of horticulture that the fruit grown upon trees dwarfed 

 by such methods is often larger and finer than the average of 

 like fruit in ordinary standard orchards. But while this is in- 

 disputable, an unsafe conclusion can easily be drawn from it ; 

 for with the ordinary orchard culture it will be found that the 

 dwarfed Pears and Apples prove much inferior to those on 

 standard trees ; clearly showing that, other things being equal, 

 the dwarfed trees are really of inferior value. 



The Doucain stocks being not conveniently attainable, I 

 have for a considerable time been making use of the well- 

 known Tetofsky, one of the first Russian Apples introduced 

 into this country, as a substitute. This variety is not strictly a 

 dwarf, for in rich soil the Tetofsky makes a large tree. Be- 

 sides this, it is not itself an extremely early bearer ; but hav- 

 ing about a dozen of them in a row along with a single tree of 

 another Russian — Prolific Sweeting — and finding the last 

 much the most desirable Apple, I top-worked it upon the 

 Tetofskys. The result has been remarkable as well as instruc- 

 tive. The original Prolific Sweeting was received as a single 

 cion from the United States Bureau of Agriculture in 1870. 

 It was root-grafted and has made a fine growth, and is now a 

 large tree, but it has never grown anything like a full crop. 

 Quite different has been the case with its cions worked in the 



Tetofskys. They have borne immense crops of very fine ap- 

 ples, finer as well as so much more numerous ; but these 

 grafted trees have made but a slow growth, though quite 

 healthy. 



Now, here seems to be a very plain case of influence of 

 stock upon cion, nothing very new, because quite in line with 

 our knowledge of what happens when we graft upon Doucain 

 stocks, though in the latter case it is usually done at the crown, 

 while my Sweetings were worked into the branches of Tetofsky. 



Influenced by this interesting experience, I have recently 

 been setting a considerable number of Tetofsky-trees, with 

 the view of using them as stocks upon which to work tardy 

 bearers of otherwise desirable Apples. For this section, par- 

 ticularly, the Bethel Apple has shown a very high degree of 

 merit as a commercial fruit, being for the " cold north " very 

 much what the Northern Spy is farther southward — large, 

 handsome, and an excellent keeper of very good quality for 

 all uses. It is, by its looks, quite plainly a seedling of Blue 

 Pearmain, but oval instead of oblate ; an excellent bearer, but 

 tardy in beginning to bear. 



It just now occurs to me that this use of Tetofsky as a stock 

 might be easily and profitably extended to regions other than 

 our " cold north " for varieties that one must plant chiefly " for 

 his heirs," if grown in the ordinary way. Why not use it for 

 the Spy, for instance ? I leave this thought with careful read- 

 ers ; but I must be permitted to say to them, too, that I have 

 neither cions nor trees of Bethel for sale, as it is my expe- 

 rience that this may save much unprofitable correspondence. 



Newport, Vt. T. H. HoskitlS. 



Basket-plants for Conservatories. 



MANY attractive changes of arrangement may be made in 

 the conservatory by the judicious use of plants spe- 

 cially adapted for basket-culture, of which there are both foli- 

 age and flowering plants enough to give ample variety. And 

 as the object is to display the charms of the plant it is not nec- 

 essary that the basket shall be any elaborate affair of rustic 

 work, appropriate as these undoubtedly are for certain pur- 

 poses, but a simple wire basket; such as the old-fashioned ox- 

 muzzle, or those shaped like a basin will answer the purpose 

 fully. 



In filling these baskets it is necessary to line the frame with 

 moss, to keep the soil in place ; either live sphagnum or green 

 flake moss from the woods is suitable material, and generally 

 any ordinary potting soil will answer as a compost. Proper 

 attention must be paid to the watering of basket-plants, for 

 being exposed to the air on all sides, they naturally dxy out 

 rapidly when well established ; it is advisable to give them a 

 dip in a tub of water occasionally, in order to insure their 

 thorough watering. 



Begonia glaucophylla scandens deserves more general recog- 

 nition for basket use. It is the finest of its family for this pur- 

 pose, being handsome in foliage and almost always in flower. 

 B. glaucophylla scandens is a strong-growing species. I have 

 seen it with shoots fully three feet long, making a perfect 

 screen around the basket. The tips of the shoots are well 

 clothed with an abundance of coral-red buds and open flo\\^rs 

 of a lighter shade. As with all Begonias, the propagation of 

 this species is very easy ; some shade is needed to secure a 

 rapid growth. 



An admirable group of basket-plants is also found in the 

 yEschynanthi, and also a somewhat uncommon one, at least 

 in our American collections, though grown in some commer- 

 cial establishments of this country at least twenty years ago. 

 The ^schynanthi form a part of the Gesneraceae, and 

 consist of a number of species of more or less scandent plants 

 with small opposite leaves of fleshy texture ; the flowers are 

 formed at the tips of the shoots and from the axils of the leaves, 

 and are tubular in shape and usually bright-colored. These 

 plants require a warm house and plenty of light to make them 

 flower freel)', though a slight shade is beneficial in the sum- 

 mer in preventing scorching. A light rich soil is best, and 

 should be very porous. The addition of some rough lumps 

 of peat and pieces of charcoal give the best results, and dur- 

 ing the winter a comparatively small quantity of water will be 

 required. Among the best species are .ischynanthus fulgens, 

 M. Lobbianus, yE. splendidus and J^. pulcher, the flowers of 

 the first-named being crimson with an orange throat, while 

 those of the other three are various shades of scarlet. 



Episcia Chontalensis, perhaps more readily recognized under 

 its older name of Cyrtodiera Chontalensis, is another useful 

 member of the Gesneraceae for basket-culture, and has slightly 

 hairy leaves from two to three inches long, purpHsh on the 

 under side and green above, the flowers being lilac, with a 



