FRUIT GARDEN 
pert, and, in this case, the professors at 
the agricultural college will give un- 
prejudiced and reliable advice. The best 
nurserymen can be relied on in this way, 
also; since it is to their interest to sup- 
ply only such trees and varieties as will 
succeed and please their customers. But 
avoid, always, at all times, the itinerant 
tree peddler. 
In nearly all cases trees should be 
ordered in the fall, and they should be 
delivered and planted in the spring. 
A great deal of superstition surrounds 
the practice of tree planting. Many per- 
sons imagine there is some hocus-pocus 
about it. In many of the horticultural 
books there will be found most elaborate 
directions, amounting almost to religious 
ceremonies, for the planting of trees. 
Much of this is unnecessary and nonsen- 
sical, as is shown by the fact that com- 
mercial tree planters do the work with 
low-priced, ignorant help, and still ac- 
complish it very rapidly. I have seen a 
gang of four men, no one of them able to 
read Caesar, plant 800 trees in a day— 
and every tree grew. A. very able Ameri- 
can horticulturist has recently advocated 
a new and striking method of tree plant- 
ing, which consists in cutting off all the 
roots and most of the top from every 
nursery tree, and inserting the stubs 
in holes driven in the soil with a crow- 
bar. The most amusing thing about this 
proposition is that it succeeds admirably 
in most cases. Wherefore, let us say 
that young fruit trees may be planted 
with every prospect of success if the most 
ordinary common sense is exercised. 
Broken roots should be cut away, and the 
top of each tree should be liberally 
pruned before setting. Water or fertili- 
zer should not be put into the hole with 
the tree roots. Under most circum- 
stances, both should be omitted from the 
process altogether, though either one 
may be applied in small quantities to the 
surface about the tree after it is plant- 
ed. 
Management After Planting 
In order to make the fruit tree suc- 
ceed, constant and intelligent labor is 
required. The garden must be well 
1031 
tilled, especially during the early portion 
of the summer. Tillage ought to cease 
about July 10th in central latitudes. 
Trees ought to be pruned year by year. 
Several books have been written about 
pruning, and I hesitate to condense their 
information into a single paragraph. 
some regular treatment, such as spray- 
ing, should be planned for the suppres- 
sion of insects and fungus diseases. In- 
formation on such matters can be se- 
cured from books, or from experts, who 
may be consulted without expense. The 
annual supply of plant food is to be kept 
up. Where trees are grown in dwarf 
forms or on trellises, there is more or 
less training to be done. 
Dwarf Fruit Trees 
It will be quite wrong to pass over the 
subject of dwarf trees in the discussion 
of city lot fruit gardens. On all small 
places the dwarf trees are of great ad- 
vantage. Their principal superiority in 
this case lies in the large number of 
them which can be put on a small tract. 
Dwarf fruit trees bear fruit exactly like 
the ordinary trees, and of the same varie- 
ties, such as Baldwin apples or Anjou 
pears. In size they may stand anywhere 
below the ordinary fruit trees, but, of 
course, for backyard gardens the smallest 
sizes are desirable. 
These dwarf fruit trees are secured 
by budding or grafting the ordinary vari- 
eties upon diminutive stocks. For ex- 
ample, the smallest dwarf apples are 
grafted upon so-called Paradise stocks, 
these being simply very diminutive apple 
trees grown from cuttings. Dwarf peach 
trees are secured by budding the ordi- 
nary varieties on small slow-growing 
plum roots. Dwarf pears are secured by 
budding the pear scion upon quince roots. 
Unfortunately, the demand for such 
things is not great enough in this coun- 
try to insure a constant supply. Dwarf 
pears and dwarf apples can be secured 
from leading American nurserymen, but 
it is almost impossible to get dwarf peach 
or plum trees without sending to Hurope 
or propagating them at home. This busi- 
ness of home propagation is worth try- 
