98 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
JEnborsements. 
London Raspberry. —J. 8. Harris, La Crescent, Minn., says: “I 
think this berry will prove to be the best red raspberry up to this time 
originated. I like the growth of the bushes. It is perfectly free from 
disease. It is more productive than any other.” 
Columbian Raspberry. —Regarding this fruit in the West, Profes¬ 
sor Green, of Minnesota, says :—“I fruited the Columbian last year and 
this year again. It is very much after the style of the Shaffer’s 
Colossal, very much resembles it in cane, berry and leaf. It roots 
easier than the Shaffer’s Colossal and is much easier to propagate. I 
think the fruit is considerably better. It grew so fast it puzzled me 
how to cover it.” 
Campbell’s Early Grape.— The Rural New Yorker says: “It 
was in the spring of 1894, as we remember, that President George W. 
Campbell, of Delaware, O., sent us a poorly-rooted cutting of Camp¬ 
bell’s Early grape. Neither Mr. Campbell nor the writer of these notes, 
expected that it would live. It was the only available plant Mr. 
Campbell had at the time. With careful nursing, it did live, and is 
now quite a thrifty vine, having stood the past winter (18 degrees 
below zero, at least) without harm to a bud. There are two main 
branches, each about three feet high. One of them bears (May 31) a 
bunch of buds. Another plant was sent to us last fall by George S. 
Josselyn, of Fredonia, N. Y., who hopes to have a large enough stock 
to be able to introduce it next fall. What weak characteristics Camp¬ 
bell’s Early may develop, no one can tell. From what we have seen, 
and from Mr. Campbell’s experience with it, we have high hopes that 
it will prove the best black grape in cultivation. The bunches are per¬ 
fect as to shape, the berry is without a trace of foxiness, and the vine 
has, thus far, proved hardy in Delaware, O., the Rural Grounds, and 
in Fredonia. N. Y. We are, as in all such cases, glad to be the first to 
call public attention to this grape, and we request those of our readers 
interested in grape growing, to bear this variety in mind and, also, to 
bear in mind our high hopes (we might say prediction) as above 
expressed.” 
GIRDLING A NURSERY. 
Owatonna, Minn., August 1.—With us in Minnesota it is very 
essential that we get our new seedling apple trees to bearing as soon as 
possible ; the more so because a very large percentage of them are not 
hardy ; another large percentage are subject to blight, and of those 
which withstand the effects of heat, cold and blight, many are shy 
bearers or bear fruit of inferior size or quality. 
The idea of girdling to produce early bearing was suggested to me 
by accidental girdling by label wires and by the fact that trees that 
have received serious injury often blossom profusely and then die. I 
commenced girdling in a small way in 1894. Of 100 or more trees 4 to 
0 years old and standing 4 to 6 feet apart in the nursery row, which 
were girdled last year, three or four trees died apparently from the 
effects of blight. Nearly every one of the others is fruiting this season 
while scarcely a tree not girdled even blossomed. 
I am so greatly encouraged by the success of the experiment thus far 
that I am girdling trees similarly situated quite extensively this season 
and expect to transform an acre or more of overgrown nursery trees 
into a bearing orchard in a year’s time ; and besides we will test our 
new seedlings as to size, color and quality of fruit far more expedi¬ 
tiously than by the more tedious process of top-grafting. At first I 
removed a ring of bark one-eighth to one-fourth of an inch wide 
entirely around the tree. At the present time I am doing the work 
mostly with a saw. Starting in on the body of the tree I cut to the 
wood and go down around the tree so that the ends of the cut are in a 
perpendicular line and several inches apart. On very small trees I am 
using a knife giving two cuts on opposite sides of the tree, one a little 
above the other. This is quickly done, and I am practicing on some 
trees not over a half inch in diameter. 
Why not girdle a whole nursery and sell fruit instead of trees ? In a 
large orchard (for this part of the country) which is closely planted I 
am girdling alternate rows, and since with us there is the greatest flow 
of sap and consequent growth on the northeast side of the tree. We 
only cut about half way around on that side of the tree leaving a full 
flow of sap on the southwest side which seems necessary to prevent sun- 
scald, which destroys a great many trees here. I have nailed boards on 
the south side of about 2,000 trees with beneficial ( results. My theory 
is that if a tree is hardy a few nails will not harm it, and if tender the 
sooner it dies the better. With the greatest possible precaution most 
of our orchard trees are short-lived in Minnesota. On this account we 
should plant none but our most hardy non-blighting kinds. 
Plant closely for the protection one tree affords to another. Manure 
and cultivate thoroughly to preserve moisture in the ground. Mulch 
late in the fall to prevent root-killing and girdle judiciously to regulate 
bearing. On spring-girdled trees water-sprouts start freely below the 
girdle which should be rubbed off to save using the knife, and above 
the girdle there is frequently considerable enlargement. Girdling does 
not cause blight but it does cause the early development of all the 
characteristics of the tree, and in blighting kinds bark blight is liable to 
start in at the wound and kill the tree. 
It may be of interest to know that at the Owatonna Tree Station of 
which I have the honor of being superintendent, there are over 800 
grafted varieties beside a large number of seedlings from the most 
hardy of our Minnesota grown trees. And it is expected that a few of 
these will prove so well suited to our climate and of such great value 
that with our improved methods of culture apple growing in Minne¬ 
sota will become a very profitable industry. 
E. H. S. Dartt. 
FACTS ABOUT APPLE TREES. 
Irvin Ingels, Lafayette, Ill., in a paper recently read, said : 
If we find that trees planted on rich soil make a much faster growth 
than on poor land, the ultimate result will be that the orchards planted 
on the rich prairie soil of Illinois will reach their majority, and die of 
old age, sooner than those planted at the same time in another part of 
the country, where the soil and climate is not so conducive to their 
rapid growth. Frank Wellhouse of Fairmount, Kansas, in Leaven¬ 
worth county, the most fertile section of Kansas, and perhaps not sur¬ 
passed anywhere in the United States for fertility, has 1,200 acre in 
orchard. His planting consisted of 117 acres in 1876. Up to 1880 he 
437 acres, and in 1890, 1,200 acres in all, planted. He comes out now 
with the statement that apple trees there cease to be profitable after a 
period of 12 to 15 years; that at about that age they begin to decline. 
. Now the facts are that the trees have reached a premature old age, 
brought on by rich soil, genial climate and high cultivation. He in¬ 
forms the public that they came into bearing the fourth year after 
planting, or at seven years from the graft, being tliree-year-olds when 
planted. Apples planted in New York do not come into bearing under 
10 years after planting, or in opr own state in less than eight, or double 
the time required by those in Kansas. 
Is it not a fact then that our orchards are dying of old age ? I say 
they are. The majority of the orchards in this section of Illinois were 
planted within a period of, perhaps, 12 to 15 years and it would of 
course follow that they would die of old age at about the same' time, or 
within a period of 12 to 15 years after they first began to die. But, 
says one, “ The young trees die, too.” This we do not dispute; any 
living thing is apt to die. But does this alter the facts as shown ? 
As to hardiness, we often hear people speak of apple trees being 
winter-killed, and asking whether this or that variety will stand the 
winter. I don’t believe there was ever a healthy apple tree injured by 
the cold in this country. I had a few apple trees killed in the nursery 
row last winter, apparently by the severe weather we had, but on 
taking the trees up I found that the roots were diseased, and while the 
cold weather might have hastened their death, it was not the prime 
cause. 
SOCIETY AMERICAN FLORISTS. 
The Society of American Florists will hold its meeting for 1897 in 
Providence, R. I. Officers for 1897 are : Adam Graham, Cleveland, 
O., president; Farquhar Macrae, Providence, R. I., vice-president; W. 
J. Stewart, Boston, secretary ; II. B. Beatty, Oil City, Pa., treasurer. 
The proposition to change the name of the society was plainly unpopu¬ 
lar with the majority, and the entire proposed new Constitution was 
laid over till next year. 
