52 



York, argues that he has a strain of fruit he thinks is affected by the 

 stock on which it is grafted ; but the experiments carried on by Mr. 

 Gulley does not sustain that. 



E. C. Tyson. Is it not Mr. Poweh's plan to set his trees deeply 

 enough to get roots from the scion? 



Mr. Bassett. I think so. 



Mr. Anderson. Mr. Chairman : I have been listening to the 

 discussion of raising our own trees. I do not think it would be wise 

 for us to undertake it. I believe the average nurseryman is honest, 

 I have faith in him. I believe raising nursery stock should be a 

 special business ; I think he can raise better trees at much less ex- 

 pense than the farmer can. Rabbits and mice will get into the little 

 nursery patch and eat it right up. The nurseryman can afford to 

 have a nursery better protected against such enemies ; and he can 

 afford to have the best soil adapted to his business. We haven't all 

 got that. I was in a nursery lately where the nurseryman grew his 

 own orchards in order to get his buds and I was much pleased with 

 all I saw. He did not take any grafts or buds from a tree that was 

 not true to its type and a perfect specimen. Trees in the same or-, 

 chard of the same variety are not always equal in quality. When 

 the nurseryman has his fruit orchards, he can select his buds and 

 grafts from special trees. You see, he is right onto the job, and he 

 can grow that tree better and cheaper than we can do it. 



Now, about grafts not coming true to type. I have done consid- 

 erable grafting, and in only one case was it not true to type. 



In these days we must be specialists ; and the man who has an 

 orchard and studies his business, is the man who will come out best. 



Mr. M. G. Kaines, Associate Editor of the "American 

 Agriculturist." Mr. President: There is one thing that has 

 not been brought out yet. It seems to me there is no question about 

 getting just what you want in the way of selection. If you have, we 

 will say, a Northern Spy tree, or if your neighbor has a Northern 

 Spy, that is better than any Northern Spy with which you are ac- 

 quainted, you can get buds from his tree at a very small expense. 

 You can present them to your nurseryman, and have him grow the 

 trees for you on the kind of stocks you stipulate. Any nurser}aTian 

 will agree to raise trees on contract. I happen to know of one 

 nurseryman in western New York who is doing that. He did not 

 at first want to undertake the work himself as a speculation; and 

 so the man who wanted to have a certain class of stock produced, 

 made his contract with this man to produce it. The fruit grower 

 supplied the buds and the nurseryman produced the trees ; and so far 

 as I know, every detail of that transaction was agreed to before the 

 work was undertaken. The last report I have had on the subject is 

 that they have been satisfactory to both the nurseryman and the 

 fruit grower. Some of the stock has been planted in the orchard, 

 and is doing well. It happens to be dwarf stock, now in bearing at 

 Mr. George T. Powell's, at Ghent, N. Y. As I said, they are dwarfs 

 — Red Astrachan trees, not quite so high as I am, which have pro- 

 duced a box of fine specimens to the tree, — and they are only three 

 years old. 



As to bud selection, I know of Mr. Powell's experiment in grow- 

 ing King trees of particular types. Mr. Powell went all over western 



