SEEDLINGS AND SHOOTS 85 



slow-growing stock. The stock starves the top 

 into keeping pace with it. The Japanese have 

 a passion for dwarf trees. They have potted 

 forest trees centuries old that are no larger 

 than an ordinary geranium. Such trees are 

 merely grotesque and interesting. There are, 

 however, several things to be said in favor of 

 dwarf fruit trees — as, for example, the dwarf 

 pear. These trees are made by grafting pear 

 scions upon quince stock. They take up less 

 room than ordinary pear trees, the fruit is more 

 easily picked and is usually of a finer quality. 



Most of the cut-leaved, colored, variegated, 

 and unusual forms of ornamental trees are 

 made in the nursery by budding and grafting, 

 or are grown from cuttings. Very few "come 

 true 'to type" from seed. Seedlings from orna- 

 mental trees as a rule, revert to their original 

 wild types, just as fruit trees do. Often, how- 

 ever, some among them will have some individ- 

 ual charm or oddity which can be preserved by 

 taking cuttings. For this reason, nurserymen 

 frequently plant seeds from ornamental trees — 

 for there's no telling! They may get hold of 

 something that will take gardeners by storm. 

 The first purple-leaved beech known to land- 

 scape gardeners grew in a forest near Zurich, 

 springing up from a spot "where five brothers 



