42 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS ' CONVENTION. 



word for that. Now, with regard to the discussion of stock, that is the 

 most profitable thing we have undertaken here. The presumption is in 

 favor of Mr. Femmons' idea that the root of the tree has very little 

 influence on the qualitv. 



MR. FEMMONS. Often, not always. 



PRESIDENT JEFFREY. How can we keep the purity if the root 

 of the apple tree had a very serious influence on the fruit . 7 We would 

 not have any Spitzenburgs for 115 years; the Northern Spy would not 

 retain its individuality, and the Newtown Pippin would not retain its 

 individuality. But the root of an apple tree, of course, or any other 

 tree, will have a great influence on the pedigree and bearing qualities 

 and the appearance of the ripening fruit itself. I don't think it has a 

 great deal of influence on the inherent qualities of the fruit that have 

 been stamped into that Spitzenburg apple over in the old countries, for 

 instance, for hundreds of ages. We don't know how it got there any 

 more than we know how the best horse ever raised on earth appeared 

 in Vermont, how the navel orange ever came to perfection away down 

 in Brazil without anybody knowing where it originated, and I don't 

 believe our scientific men will ever find out, but we ought to bring our 

 discussion to bear upon dragooning some half dozen nurserymen to 

 raise pedigreed trees. In Oregon I have seen the growers in the Rogue 

 River country amputate an apple tree, a Ben Davis, about six inches in 

 diameter, which some of the older orchards had matured, and at the 

 next station above Medford. put in a little scion about as big as your 

 finger, cover it with wax. and in three or four years that was an apple 

 tree as perfect as ever grown from a nursery tree. There is a place 

 where the ability to build up apple trees is certainly remarkable. You 

 could not do that in Los Angeles County: you might in this county, 

 but the Rogue River people and the Hood River people should not have 

 the credit that we get down here, because nature does many things there 

 it does not here. One thing is, it gives them a regular supply of mois- 

 ture and it throws the leaves off at the proper time, and makes them 

 stay off until the proper time in the spring. You never see apple trees 

 in bloom in the winter, and all those things make it a typical apple 

 country, similar to this section. 



MR. MASKEW. I have been trying to make progress along these 

 lines for a great many years. The consensus of opinion seems to be this 

 afternoon that pedigreed stock is desirable. The consensus of opinion 

 seems also to be that it must start with the nurseryman. These are 

 nearly all apple growers here, and I would like to ask. if a man to-mor- 

 row desired to purchase from you pedigreed stock, is there a man in 

 this audience would give him a guaranteed pedigree ? 



MR. FEMMONS. ^Yes. 



MR. BERWICK. What do you call a guaranteed pedigree? 



MR. MASKEW. A record of the bearing ability and the fertility 

 for a period of, say, four years — longer, if possible— a record of what 

 that tree had produced and a record of its character. Could any man 

 furnish that and say, "I have got a record of it for four years. This 

 tree has done so and so for four years. ' ' How is the nurseryman going 

 to commence this if we don't have the tree for him to draw upon? I 

 have tried to do this for years, and in a small way I have satisfied 

 myself it can be done. To begin with, we must have the trees to get 



