MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS. 
151 
SUMMARY. 
1. The ordinary American and French apple seedlings ( Pyrus Malus) now 
used as stocks for the cultivated apple are not sufficiently hardy over a large 
part of the prairie Northwest in severe winters. This causes much loss from 
root-killing, and the hardy top, thus left without a root to support it, neces- 
sarily perishes. 
2. The American wild crab (Pyrus Ioensis ) as found native at Des Moines, 
Iowa, winter-killed at this station and hence is not sufficiently hardy to use 
as a stock. It has not been found native in South Dakota save in the south- 
eastern corner. 
3. The experiments at this station show that the roots thrown out from 
the scion in root-grafts of the hardy varieties of the cultivated apple are 
hardy in ordinary winters, but did not prove hardy the past severe winter 
(1898-99), minimum temperature forty degrees below zero Fahrenheit. 
4. The true Siberian crab ( Pyrus baccata ) is the hardiest known species of 
the apple and if it proves sufficiently exempt from blight may prove of great 
value as a stock in sections where root-killing is a source of trouble. Young 
plants of this species proved perfectly hardy the past winter on the grounds 
of this station. 
5. Translations from Russian authorities are given to aid in distinguishing 
Pyrus baccata from other closely related crabs. 
6. A root-craft of Pyrus baccata odorata upon the station grounds lost the 
American seedling root by winter-killing, but the tree was saved by the root 
thrown out by the scion, which proved hardy. 
7. The Russian method of preventing root-killing by using the true Siber- 
ian crab (Pyrus baccata) as a stock, is described, and the method recom- 
mended for limited trial. 
GERMAN EXPERIENCE. 
Note. — Since the foregoing was written, several books have come to hand 
from Fr. Lucas, Director of the Pomological Institute at Reutlingen, Germany. 
Director Lucas is one of the leading pomologists in Germany, and is the 
author of numerous horticultural books. In his “Die Lehre vom Obstabau” 
(“Stuggart, 1898) p. 378, P. baccata and P. pruni folia are recommended as 
half-standard (semi-dwarf) stocks for the cultivated apple on dry shallow 
soils. In his “Vollstaendiges Handbuch der Obstkultnr” (Stuttgart, 1894) p. 
41, Dr. Lucas writes: “In recent years the seedlings of the medium strong 
growing apple tree, P. baccata are much liked as stocks for larger dwarf trees, 
because they grow weaker than the ordinary wildings, and yet stronger than 
the real dwarf stocks (referring to Paradise and Doucin).” Also on p. 79: 
“The apple tree, standing in a poor soil, when budded on P. baccata, still gives 
good and abundant crops, while in a moist and rich soil it bears better on 
Doucin stocks.” 
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