Vol. LX I No. 2736. 
NEW YORK, JULY 5, 1902. 
*1 PER YEAR 
AN ORCHARD FROM ROOT-CRAFTS. 
PLANTED WHERE TREES ARE TO GROW. 
Is the Plan a Practical One? 
Will it pay to set apple root-grafts in good land where 
they are to remain and make orchard trees? That is, 
will the first six-inch cuts of good first class, one-year 
apple seedlings and the very best of long, healthy apple 
scions, perhaps a foot or more long, grafted together 
at the bench next Winter and then set in thoroughly 
prepared soil, the following Spring, do to put directly 
into orchard form, provided they are staked, hoed and 
cultivated thoroughly until they grow up to bearing 
trees? Will they be as good, or nearly so, as one-year- 
old, transplanted trees treated the same way? Will it 
be more trouble in the end to care for them in this way 
than the extra cost of buying two-year-old trees and 
planting them out? Such grafts would not cost over $5 
per 1,000; they ought to make a good growth and they 
will not need any transplanting and very little replant¬ 
ing. There ought to be no Woolly asphis and no root- 
gall, as on nursery trees. a Maryland reader. 
WOULD START THEM IN NURSERY—I have 
never had any experience in planting apple grafts in 
orchard, but from my long experience 
in the business I would not advise it. 
If cheapness is desired I would prefer 
to buy the grafts, set them in nur¬ 
sery rows and grow them two years, 
unless they made a growth of four 
or five feet the first year; then 1 
would set at one year. The extra 
care and chance of failure from set¬ 
ting the grafts direct in the orchard 
•would be more than the care and 
transplanting at one or two years old. 
If a six-inch root and 12-inch graft 
(making 18 inches) are used it would 
be too long, as the greater part of 
the scion should be under the soil, 
and this would be setting too deeply. 
Three or four-inch root and five or 
six-inch scion would be long enough. 
One-year-old trees can be bought very 
cheaply, and would be more likely to 
give satisfaction to anyone not con¬ 
versant with growing trees from the 
start. CHAS. BLACK. 
New Jersey. 
DOES NOT BELIEVE IN IT.— 
Whatever one does in starting an or¬ 
chard I believe it pays to do it in the 
best manner possible. This need not 
be the most expensive way, but 
should be the most thorough. It 
never pays to buy poor trees at any 
price when good ones can be had reasonably. Had 
your inquirer ever been a nurseryman I do not think 
he would have asked the question. I do not under¬ 
stand why trees so grown would not be as subject to 
Woolly aphis, root-gall and other diseases as those 
grown in any other manner. The finest apple or¬ 
chards I have ever seen were planted with trees which 
were taken from the nursery at the age and size usual 
for planting in orchards, then planted in nursery rows 
and there grown for two years before being planted 
in the orchard. True, it cost more to begin, but it 
was money well invested, as results proved. I do not 
believe the proposed plan is practicable or in any way 
desirable. l. t. yeomans. 
New York. 
TOP-WORKED SEEDLINGS BETTER—I am not 
experienced on this line, but believe there would be 
no advantage in leaving the graft a foot long. One 
or two buds on the graft would make a tree just as 
soon, and would allow the root to gain strength. I 
believe, however, that to make a commercial orchard 
of long life the proper thing to do for a man who 
would attend to it right (and it would require a man 
of that kind to succeed with a large orchard), would 
be to grow his own seedlings and set them out in the 
orchard, and top-work the natural wood. 
New York. t. b. wilson. 
TOO MUCH TRAVELING REQUIRED.—I have had 
no experience in growing an orchard from root-grafts 
set where the trees are to remain, and I do not think 
I care to try the experiment: In my earlier years I 
had some experience in nursery work, and I will ven¬ 
ture the assertion that no nurseryman would think of 
planting an orchard for himself in this way, and cer¬ 
tainly one inexperienced in nursery work should not 
attempt it. Root-grafts require properly fitted soil 
and special care and attention the first year, and it 
seems foolish to think of traveling many times over 
a 20-acre field to care for 1,000 trees, and to do poorly 
what can be done much better in the space of a few 
rods. If the ground is in proper condition why not 
buy good trees of a reliable nurseryman, and save 
two years’ time? If the ground is not in good order, 
and the man wishes to grow his trees from the grafts, 
let him plant in nursery rows and transplant at two 
or three years. He will find this cheaper and more 
satisfactory than to attempt to plant the grafts where 
he wishes his trees to remain. l. r. bryant. 
Illinois. 
A NURSERYMAN SAYS “NO.”—I would say no. 
The nursery is the place to rear young trees, where the 
proper care and attention may be given them for their 
best development. A large per cent of the apple grafts 
set never make first-class trees, and planted in an 
orchard many of them might make misses when trees 
are wanted. If the field was set to trees from nursery 
when the apple grafts are planted, the orchard would 
be bearing two or three years before the graft, and 
the gain in fruit would much more than offset the 
difference in cost of tree; besides, the risk would be 
much less. There would be very few orchards, in my 
opinion, if such a method was adopted for starting 
them. EDWIN HOYT. 
Connecticut. 
BETTER CARE IN NURSERY—The subject of the 
practical benefits of setting apple root-grafts in the 
orchard where the tree is to stand, has able argu¬ 
ments on both sides of the question. It has been tried 
in this locality several times, but the results have not 
been gratifying. I believe it possible to set good first- 
class apple grafts, in thoroughly prepared soil, where 
the tree is to remain, and be as good, or nearly so, 
as older trees transplanted from nursery. It is pos¬ 
sible, but not probable, that they will receive the same 
care and attention bestowed by the nurseryman upon 
his graft; but there are very few people who could, 
or would, give them this attention. Good grafts, set 
right, cultivated every few days, carefully hoed and 
understandingly handled, could be grown as well set 
30 feet apart as in the nursery row, but few would 
care to give this culture, and when the question of 
cost is taken into consideration I believe No. 1 two- 
year-old trees would be the cheaper. I would serious¬ 
ly question the statement that Woolly aphis and root- 
gall are started mainly in the nursery, and have al¬ 
ways considered it an advantage to have the opportu¬ 
nity of examining the roots of all 
trees I set, and rejecting any that 
show disease or have made a poor 
growth. We find that a good healthy 
transplanted one or two-year-old 
tree, one that has made a robust 
growth before transplanting, free of 
disease at this time, will grow off 
with very little of its growth retard¬ 
ed, and if kept in good growing con¬ 
dition, will very largely resist the 
ravages of Woolly aphis. If root-gall 
is a disease due to soil conditions, or 
rather is in the soil in certain locali¬ 
ties, as some of our scientists be¬ 
lieve, it would make little difference 
whether graft, one or two-year-old 
trees were set, so far as that disease 
is concerned. R. G. Bagby, of New 
Haven, Mo., one of our leading hor¬ 
ticulturists and nurserymen, has 
made quite extensive investigations 
of this disease, and states that he does 
not regard it as a nursery disease. 
He believes that any orchard, even 
that produced from seedlings, would 
not be any more immune than nur¬ 
sery trees. a. z. moore. 
Missouri. 
PREFERS THE ROOT-GRAFTS.— 
I think it will pay to set apple grafts 
where they are to remain, provided 
they are first-class collar-grafts, scion the same size 
as root, well wound with waxed thread. If the gi’ower 
will give the attention he suggests I believe he will 
have a very long-lived tree, and one that will with¬ 
stand windstorms. It will not be any more trouble in 
the end, but more to start with. I do not think he 
should have a missed tree. I have 80 acres in orchard, 
and have a great deal of replanting to do each year. 
I planted large trees, but never would again. Were 1 
planting again piy plan would be to use grafts, graft¬ 
ing them myself, selecting root and scion from a 
young bearing orchard; all terminal buds, planting 
very carefully, and mixing with the soil a good com¬ 
post. A. S. ARCHER. 
Illinois. 
WAITING FOR DINNER.—The picture shown on 
this page, Fig. 181, comes from the Snake River Val¬ 
ley, Idaho. The ranchmen are waiting tor their din¬ 
ner and they form a progressive, hard-working group 
of hungry folks. This district is making an enviable 
record in fruit growing. 
