162 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
Quiz Column. 
GERMINATING BARBERRY SEED. 
To the Editor Nationa 1 Nurseryman, Rochester, N. Y. 
Sir: Kindly inform me through your columns how to germinate 
plant and care for the seed of Berberis vulgaris. If to be stratified dur¬ 
ing winter shall it be in dry or moist sand? 
Woodburn, Ore. G. H. Robbins. 
Barberries may be grown very satisfactorily, by planting 
the seed directly in the ground in the fall but the germination is 
, rather irregular under this kind of treatment. The best plan 
is to rub out and stratify the seed in moist sand and plant it in 
spring. The seed should not be allowed to become dry before 
planting. As soon as it is ripe it should be collected, separated 
from the pulp by rubbing in sharp sand and then mixed with 
soil and stored in the cellar. A good way is to sow the seed 
in beds about the size of hot bed sashes, having them so placed 
that they can remain undisturbed for two or three years, 
because often under the best treatment there will be some un¬ 
evenness and irregularity in germination. Sandy loam is a 
most desirable soil to use. It is a good plan to shade the beds 
slightly during the forepart of the summer. 
A SMALL THOUGH “mITEy” ENEMY. 
Editor National Nurseryman . 
Dear Sir: Enclosed find a few Linden leaves which are affected—- 
many on trees were worse than these—by some insect. This insect 
begins laying eggs about May 1st to 10th maturing in about 60 days. 
The galls appear shortly after eggs are laid increasing in size for a period 
of about 4 weeks after which time, until the insect emerges, they remain 
about same size 
Can you give me any treatment that will or has been successful in 
combatting them? 
So far as I have been able to learn, very little is known about this 
insect. There are some trees in one of our Parks here that are badly 
infested. They are the only ones that have come under my observation 
that are affected with this trouble. My impression is that arsenical 
poisons would hardly reach the “critter.” 
Davenport, Iowa. B. 
Answer—I think, but am not sure, that the galls on the 
linden are the work of a mite, a microscopic animal allied to 
the spiders. The galls on the leaves now are so dry and dead 
that it is difficult to give them a critical examination. I doubt 
if a poison spray would affect the depredator, but if it is mites, 
they probably winter in the winter buds as do the pear leaf 
blister mites. If so, a spray of whale oil soap (one pound in 
two or three gallons of water) applied during winter or before 
growth begins in spring will check them. Try this on a few 
trees. M. V. Slingerland, 
Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y. 
ROOT-GRAFTED VERSUS BUDDED TREES. 
Editor National Nurseryman. 
I am quite a good deal interested in orchard work and I expect to 
plant a large orchard of apple trees in the near future. Many of 
us are having very poor success with our grafted apple trees. They 
seem to be so short lived and do not stand our severe wind, blowing over 
very easily. They appear to be shallow rooted and without tap root. 
They also rot at the graft and often break off at the union, It seems 
almost impossible to keep the borers out of them. I have thought of 
planting budded apple as I notice our best orchards are budded apples. 
Can you send me any literature on this subject treating on budded 
apples? 
Our Western horticultural societies seem to uphold the grafted trees, 
but it looks to me as though reason and common sense teach that a tree 
grown from the seed with a tap root and sound heart, with a free cir¬ 
culation through the body of the tree, would be better than a grafted 
tree with only a piece of the root that nature intended a tree to have. 
These are my sentiments and I would like to know how other people 
think of it. 
Montgomery City, Mo. W N. C. 
Answer—The questions you raise in regard to the propa¬ 
gation of apples by budding versus grafting, are interesting. 
They are however, not new, and as you may know they have 
been threshed over for many years by partisan and non-parti¬ 
san disputants. There are those who conscientiously believe 
(and in some cases their notions are based upon a large amount 
of personal experience) that the budded tree is best. There are 
others who are equally sincere in believing that the root- 
grafted tree is best. I think the time is approaching when a 
conclusive survey of the whole question is feasible, but the 
person who will undertake it is not yet in sight. It is clearly 
a national, non-individual and non-local problem. 
From my own standpoint, I have seen occasional evidence 
which might lead me to believe that the budded stock made 
the most satisfactory tree; but to combat this I have the re¬ 
sults of an experiment carefully planned and executed under 
my own eye some twelve years ago at the Experimental Farm 
at Ottawa. In this experiment, whole root-grafts which cor¬ 
respond practically to budded stocks, were used in opposition 
to piece roots. Different methods of grafting, as whip and 
side-grafting, were employed. Collar grafts were compared 
with tip-root grafts. Base scions were compared with terminal 
scions. After the intervening years, we find nothing distinct¬ 
ive in the behavior of the trees which would lead us to recom¬ 
mend one method or condemn the other. The variety used was 
Wealthy, and the trees have been uniformly vigorous and pro¬ 
ductive. At the present time there seems to be nothing char¬ 
acteristically different in their habit of root or top growth to 
warrant the statement of well defined differences. 
To combat the idea that a budded tree is essentially different 
from a grafted tree, we must remember that the budded root 
is trimmed and so loses its tap root, that the scion practically 
overrules the root in regard to its form; and, that the union 
between the bud placed beneath the bark of the stock and that 
of the scion spliced to the stock, is essentially the same. There 
is no true physiological union in either case. The joining up 
is in the nature of a mechanical union, and while there is prob¬ 
ably less disturbance or hindrance of^sap flow in the case of 
the budded tree than in the case of the root-grafted tree, yet I 
do not believe that the difference is very material or marked. 
If you have an opportunity for gathering a body of ex¬ 
perience or mass of data on this subject, it would be a very 
useful topic to investigate. You should, however, consider, 
in connection with the investigation, the character of the soil, 
because this has a very important bearing upon the develop¬ 
ment of tree roots. Some soils favor deep root extension, 
while others discourage it. A discussion of this topic occurs 
in the “Nursery Book” by Bailey, which, at the time of pub¬ 
lication, brought the matter practically up to date. Even at 
the present time, it affords a very satisfactory review. 
It should be added that there is another argument in favor 
of root-grafted trees. If one were living in the upper part 
of the Mississippi valley or in the cold regions of the Northwest, 
I believe that root-grafted trees are best, for the reason that 
tender rooted trees are subject to root-killing in those sections; 
