NORTHERN GREAT PLAINS FIELD STATION, 1913-1922 29 
crab, and Minnesota crab seedlings. Of these, Pyrus baccata seems 
to be the most desirable. It is hardy and most apples readily form 
good union with it. Neither the common French crab nor the dwarf 
stocks, Paradise and Doucin, seem to be hardy on the northern 
Plains. Apples generally have not made good unions with Crataegus 
mollis or Malus coronaria, and stands from grafting or budding on 
these stocks have been poor. 
Plums also have been grown on a number of different stocks, 
but the hardy native plum and sand cherry seem to be the only stocks 
that merit consideration. Both of these stocks are somewhat 
dwarfing in their effect. The sand cherry is especially noted for 
this, but plums on sand-cherry roots at the field station have generally 
grown as vigorously as or more vigorously than those on native 
plum roots. Observations indicate that trees on sand-cherry roots 
are sometimes more prolific than trees of the same variety on plum 
roots, but the grade of the fruit has often been superior on the plum 
roots. Suckering is more troublesome with sand-cherry roots, but 
with them there is no occasion to be in doubt whether a shoot is 
from the stock or scion. Both stocks are easy to grow, and both 
make good unions with the common varieties of plums grown on 
the northern Plains. They have been about equally satisfactory in 
the sandy loam soil at the field station. 
Cherries have been budded on Prunus pennsylvanica, P. besseyi, 
P. virginiana, P. americana, and Amygdalus davidiana, but poor 
stands resulted, and none of the cherries lived for any length of time 
on any of these stocks. The ordinary stocks used for cherries are 
not hardy at Mandan, so no satisfactory stock for cherries has been 
found. However, hardy varieties of cherries have been lacking to 
test on the above stocks, so the stocks themselves should not be 
too severely condemned. It can only be said that the stands were 
poor on all stocks tried and that no stock has been tested which 
was satisfactory for the ordinary varieties of sour cherries. 
Pears have been tested to a limited extent on Crataegus, Japan 
pear, Juneberry, mountain ash, Pyrus baccata, and pear seedlings. 
The stands have been poor and the scions generally winterkilled 
before the trees became established in the field. Pear scions tend 
to outgrow Crataegus and June-berry stocks, thus forming poor unions 
and top-heavy trees. 
Top-working has not been successful, poor stands being the rule. 
Several attempts have been made to top-work the hardier varieties 
of apples with less hardy varieties of desirable quality, but these 
attempts have failed. 
A few pears are now growing which were top-worked on June-berries 
= 1918, but the unions are generally poor. They have not produced 
ruit. 
SITES AND LOCATIONS FOR ORCHARDS 
Most of the orchard plantings at the field station are located on 
comparatively high, fairly level ground sloping toward the north and 
overlooking the valley of the Heart River. The air drainage is 
excellent, and sometimes fruit is produced when frost destroys the 
crops in the lower valleys. 
esides the plantings on this bench, three other special plantings 
have been made, one known as the hillside orchard and the other two 
