24 
HO USE & GARDEN 
THE LITTLE TREE OF 
RETURNS 
THE BIG 
Finds Its Enthusiastic Exponent 
in the I, over of Dwarf Fruits 
E. P. POWELL 
T HE desire for planting dwarf apple 
trees is rational, and, happily, on the 
increase. Many of these dwarfs bear fine 
crops, and the trees themselves are very 
beautiful in their ornamental effectiveness 
on the lawn. They have other advantages, 
too; not only do they take up a small space, 
about 15' in diameter for large ones, but 
the picking is done from a stepladder and 
the branches are seldom broken. In an or¬ 
chard of standard trees breakage occurs so 
often that individual specimens seldom re¬ 
main symmetrical. Bear in mind that the 
apple tree in blossom is as near perfection 
as can be secured, and that one in bearing 
is a glorious sight. I am always sorry to 
strip off the McIntosh and the Alexanders, 
because of their perfection of color. 
Reliable Apples and Pears 
For a list to guide you in selecting and 
planting I would suggest among the earlier 
sorts Alexander, Fanny, Fameuse, Duchess, 
Red Astrachan, Primate, Wealthy and Yel¬ 
low Transparent. Of the later sorts, Hub- 
bardston, McIntosh, Northern Spy, New¬ 
ton Pippin, Rhode Island Greening and 
Tallman Sweet are good. The Sweet 
Bough makes an elegant dwarf tree and 
bears most beautiful silvery white apples, 
but I am in doubt whether you can save 
the fruit from the trypeta fly. And we have 
this to consider in planting dwarf trees al¬ 
together: their limbs come closer to the 
ground, make a denser and moister shade, 
and give this fly a better chance to work. 
It is busy all summer and in the shade. 
Trees scattered about a lawn would be 
nearly exempt, but in a small orchard, or 
planted close together, I should be very 
much afraid of their suffering from this 
pest. If compelled to bring your list of 
varieties down to half a dozen, take Red 
Astrachan, Yellow Transparent, 
Fanny, Gravenstein, Hubbard- 
ston, McIntosh, Wealthy and 
Northern Spy. I see I have over¬ 
run my half dozen, but I really 
can’t delete any of those named. 
In making a list of dwarf pears 
I should confine myself almost 
entirely to Duchess, Louisa Bonne 
and Anjou. One might try Flem¬ 
ish Beauty, giving it a very open 
and sunny place, and spraying it 
carefully with Bordeaux, early 
and late. I here is the advantage 
with these dwarfs that you can 
easily detect the approach of an 
enemy, and apply the remedy very 
conveniently. A pail of liquid 
can be applied with a hand brush 
or nozzle, while in the large or¬ 
chard we have to use horse, wagon and 
barrel, besides a large spray pump. I am 
inclined to think that our new homemakers, 
especially those who know very little about 
fruit and have very small places, will do 
well to try dwarf apples and a select list 
of dwarf pears. I do not recommend large 
orchards of either, especially to amateurs. 
A woman would find the management 
of a few trees attractive and profitable. 
The suggestions here are for home use, but 
a surplus is always desirable, and every 
country place ought to pay for itself. The 
women of the household are under no obli¬ 
gation to confine themselves to indoor work. 
1 he bees and the fruit correlate each other 
and make a fine department for women. 
Plums and Cherries 
What our country homes need is a larger 
range and a better supply of fruit. Be¬ 
sides those I have named plums and cherries 
will bear so early and on such small trees 
The dwarf tree is not necessarily a tree trained on 
wires or against a wall. This is one of the desir¬ 
able small pears 
that they can be planted with the dwarf 
sorts and practically are such. If you de¬ 
sire you can get the Early Richmond cherry 
and some others on dwarf stock, but this 
does not pay, in my experience, for the 
trees are short lived, and from the roots 
come up inferior shoots that you cannot 
plant. Green gages; prunes like Fellen- 
burg. Grand Duke, Arch-Duke and Mon¬ 
arch—none of them takes up large space. 
The common sour cherry trees bear heavily 
when 4' to 6' high, and when they get large 
enough to crowd can be cut out. 
Plums do not care for so much sunshine, 
green gage excepted, but the cherries must 
have open places and very little shade. An 
increasing pest is the aphides or lice, and 
these multiply most rapidly in shady places. 
Among the best cherries for growing in 
dwarf form are Suda Hardy, the old 
Morello, Montmorency and Olivet. The 
Duke cherries belong in the list of sour 
(Continued on page 64) 
Many of the dwarfs are highly productive, and the trees themselves are real orna¬ 
ments to the grounds. The fruit can easily he covered to protect it from birds 
When it comes time to gather the fruit, the advan¬ 
tages of the small trees are evident 
