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seedling three or four years, you know the character of the root on 

 which you are grafting. 



Prof. Wright. It may be a good plan to do that way; but 

 there would be the disadvantage, if you grew the seedling three or 

 four years, that the root system would be difficult to dig and trans- 

 plant. 



Member. What are the fungus diseases of nursery stock? 



Prof. Wright. I am imable to answer. I have been in this 

 state only four or five months. Think Mr. Tyson can answer that 

 very well ; think he has grown some nursery stock. 



Chester J. Tyson. I do not think there are any serious ones 

 except the root gall. 



Member. How about Pear Blight? 



Mr. Tyson. I have never seen it in nursery stock. 



Member. Would you recommend growing Pear Seedlings ? 



Prof. Wright. I should hesitate to grow my own Pear Seed- 

 lings ; I would buy pear stock. 



Prof. Watts. Mr. Chairman, I should like to say just a little 

 on this subject. There seems to be a great deal of theorizing on the 

 propagation of trees. As the result of experiments made by the 

 Department of Agriculture, it was found by actual measurement of 

 the height of trees planted eleven or twelve years, and measurement 

 of the diameter of the trunks of these trees, that the piece root is 

 just as good as the whole root. The more vigorous the root; the 

 more vigorous the tree will be. If you graft on the smaller piece 

 root, or on the smaller whole root, the probabilities are that you will 

 have a smaller tree. 



You have men here in this convention who have had experience 

 in bud selection. Bud selection will be given a great deal more at- 

 tention in the future than it has received in the past. 



Member. There is nothing in bud selection as far as I am 

 concerned. 



Prof. Watts. I should a great deal rather take chances in 

 planting an orchard from stock I know something about than from 

 trees I know nothing at all about. Mr. Powell claims that he has a 

 special strain of the Rhode Island Greening, as well as two or three 

 other varieties ; and it is held by Mr. Powell and others, that they 

 are superior to others. There is more in bud selection than we think; 

 we have neglected to get it out. 



Member. How about root selection? 



Prof. Watts. I do not know anything about it. 



Mr. Earl Peters. Mr. President : I think this is one of the most 

 important things in Adams County. I do not know anything of 

 seedlings. I have grown some nursery stock. I have watched the 

 conditions in the orchard very closely, and we find something there 

 that has not been answered yet. Whether we can ever answer it is 

 a problem ; but I have been thinking about it very seriously for more 

 than a year — the method of selection of apple seedlings. These 

 methods most certainly affect our interests. In a ten-year-old or- 

 chard, for instance, we have a certain diameter of tree that we look 

 upon as a standard for that age of trees; but we find, say three- 

 tenths of the trees, standing here and there, with a smaller diameter. 



