Dwarf Apples for the Home Garden — By Samuel Fraser, 
WHAT A DWARF REALLY IS AND HOW IT IS MADE— THE KIND OF STOCK 
USED— SOME APPLES OF REAL QUALITY THAT ARE NOT COMMERCIALLY GROWN 
New 
York 
McIntosh apple tree on Doucin stock in its third year 
after planting as a 2-year old, April, 1910. Photo, Sept. 
1912. The tree has never been pruned 
I N GROWING dwarf apples in the 
home garden one has the opportunity 
of planting varieties which cannot be 
secured commercially. For example, 
we generally find on the market such varie- 
ties as Spy, Greening, Baldwin, and King 
during the fall and winter months, but we 
might have difficulty in finding Spitzen- 
burg — eastern grown Spitzenburg at any 
rate — and this variety will grow very well 
in the home garden upon a dwarf stock. 
Before we go further it may be wise to state 
what is meant by Dwarf stock. 
THE THREE KINDS OF STOCK 
At the present time nurserymen are 
using three different kinds of stock upon 
which to bud different varieties of apples. 
There are: 
(i) The Standard, which is usually grown 
on French crab. These are purchased in 
France or in this country and are little trees 
grown from seeds secured in France from 
wild crabapples. They make the tall- 
growing standard trees with which we are all 
familiar, sometimes attaining a height of 60 
or 70 feet if allowed to go up so far. 
(2) What is known as the Doucin. It does 
not make a tree which grows nearly as tall; 
in fact, it will tend to check itself at about 
20 feet, and is, therefore, planted much 
closer than the standard. The trees can be 
held lower by pruning judiciously, and 
they may not attain a height of more 
than 10 feet, but in order to secure 
these heights it is necessary not to plant 
the trunk too deeply in the 
ground, otherwise the trunk 
itself may send out roots 
and the tree becomes to all 
intents and pur- 
poses a standard. 
(3) What is 
known as the Par- 
adise stock. This 
is a dwarf growing bush in 
France and seldom attains 
a height of more than io 
feet; and the trees budded upon it may 
attain this height. 
MAKING A DWARF 
The height, then, to which a tree 
attains depends upon the vigor of the 
root upon which the bud or graft is 
placed. In dwarf stock the usual method 
of propagation is to bud, so that if we want 
to grow a tree of, say McIntosh, Lady, or 
Chenango, we take buds from McIntosh, 
Lady, or Chenango trees and during August 
we bud them on the trunks of some of 
these little seedlings; and in the 
following spring, when these buds 
have united, we take the top off the 
seedling and the little bud is allowed 
to become the trunk and make the 
top of the variety desired and 
the root still remains 
whatever it was in the 
first instance, namely, 
Paradise, Doucin, or 
Standard. 
VARIETIES TO USE 
For those having gar- 
dens in the latitude of New 
Jersey, Pennsylvania, or New 
York there are some very good 
varieties which can be grown 
in the home garden. Those 
wanting an early apple will 
probably find Primate an ad- 
mirable apple for home use. 
The points which make it de- 
sirable for home use are those 
which render it of little value for com- 
mercial purposes. The fruit ripens over 
a period of about six weeks furnishing a 
long and continuous supply for this period. 
Naturally the man who wants to harvest 
the whole crop at one or at the most two 
pickings would never consider the planting 
of such an apple, no matter how valuable 
the fruit may be. Primate is an excellent 
apple for culinary purposes and an excellent 
one to eat for those desiring something a 
little tart. Those who have not used it will 
find it so much superior to Yellow Trans- 
parent, that once grown they are hardly 
likely to throw it away. It is a fairly good 
sized apple and is greenish in appearance 
and in the vicinity of New York City it 
would probably begin to ripen somewhere 
near the middle of August, or even a little 
later, and last probably from the month of 
August to the middle of September. It 
has a fairly good range of adaptability; that 
is, it will do well in the region of Phila- 
delphia and as far north as any part of 
New York, almost, except perhaps along 
the St. Lawrence. 
Another apple of similar season and 
character is Jeffries. In this case the fruit, 
while of medium size when ripe, is yellow in 
appearance and the surface is splashed with 
red, so that one might take it for a red apple. 
It has a tender flesh, mild to sub-acid, good 
quality. It would begin to ripen after the 
Primate and it could be used along until 
the winter fruit is ready. 
Those wanting a handsome showy apple 
will find it in Chenango Strawberry. It 
is a good sized apple and a variety which 
does very well on Dwarf stock, but of all 
^ . the varieties 
which are par- 
A ticularly adapted 
Primate apple tree on Doucin in its third year after 
planting, bearing a few fruits. Planted as a 2-year old. 
April, 1909. Photo, August, 1911 
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