MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS. 
145 
seedling was grown by a western nurseryman from Vermont seed. The scion 
was cut from a tree imported from Germany early in the winter of 1897-98. 
The graft was made in the winter of 1897-98, planted the following spring and 
made a growth of 17 inches the first year. Among a lot of several hundred 
root-grafts root-killed . in the winter of 1898-99 (minimum temperature — 40 ' 
degrees Fahrenheit), this tree was conspicuous for its vigorous growth from 
the terminal bud. Careful digging soon furnished the explanation. The 
scion of the original graft was alive and healthy; the Vermont apple root was 
dead and the sap had fermented. The scion had, however, thrown out a 
strong root; this was perfectly healthy and enabled the scion to begin a 
vigorous growth. The only part of the 'entire tree affected by the winter was 
the seedling root. 
MINNESOTA EXPERIENCE. 
In September, 1S98, the writer called on Peter M. Gideon, the originator of 
the Wealthy and Peter apples, the Martha, Florence, Lou and October crabs, 
and many other varieties of apples and crabs. Mr. Gideon began his experi- 
ments in fruit culture about 45 years ago and has grown and sent out many 
thousands of seedlings, chiefly of Siberian crabs. Mr. Gideon’s fruit farm is 
situated near the shore of Lake Minnetonka at Excelsior, Minnesota. In reply 
to a question Mr. Gideon said: “If the ground is moist in the fall an ordinary 
apple seedling will not root-kill; if dry it will. But a Siberian crab root will 
come out all right and not root-kill on dry soil while every American seedling 
root will winter-kill. Even a Siberian root sticking out of the ground after 
digging, I have known to form a terminal bud and make a tree. A mulch is 
always good in the fall to prevent root-killing. I have often had hardy varie- 
ties in nursery with all the American seedlings roots dead in the spring, but a 
single root which had come from the scion had survived the winter, and 
this pulled the tree through. We greatly need hardy stocks for the apple 
used in a commercial way. In my opinion, no hardier stocks could be grown 
than those of the iron-clad cross-bred Siberian seedlings I have sent out.” 
VARIETIES OF PYRUS BACCATA. 
In this connection it will be of ^interest to give the late Dr. E. Regel’s de- 
scription of this species. Dr. Regel was for many years director of the 
Imperial Botanic Gardens at St. Petersburg. The following extract from 
Regel’s Russian Dendrology (vol. IV, p. 269; St. Petersburg, 1874), was trans- 
lated from Russian into German by a translator at the St. Petersburg Botanic 
Gardens, and the writer rendered this into English as follows: 
THE SIBERIAN APPLE TREE, PYRUS BACCATA. 
“The leaves are oval, tapering, flat, shining on the upper surface, light green, 
sharply toothed on the margin. The petioles are usually longer than one- 
half of the leaf surface. The fruits are borne on long thin stalks which are 
several times longer than the fruit and are attached to the same in a depres- 
sion of the base [cavity]. The calyx is cast o ffto wards the time or ripening, 
through which characteristic Pyrus baccata is easily distinguished from Pyrus 
prunlfolia, to which it is closely related. Pyrus baccata flourishes throughout 
all Siberia into northern Japan and on that account deserves consideration, 
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