40 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
PROPAGATING NURSERY STOCK. 
Paper Read by W. T. Hood Before Virginia State Horticultural 
Society—Details Regarding Treatment of Seed, Budding, 
Grafting, Planting, Cultivating. Rubbing Buds, Prun¬ 
ing — Pear Stocks — How Seed Is Shipped — 
Stone Seed — Natural Peach Seed. 
Cultural directions for the growth of nursery stock are 
detailed by W. T. Hood, Richmond, Va., in the following 
paper read by him at the annual meeting of the Virginia State 
Horticultural Society : 
PROPAGATION AND CULTIVATION OF NURSERY STOCK. 
“To be successful in growing good nursery stock, one of 
the most important things is to have good land, and to have it 
prepared the season before you wish to plant, and the next is 
to have good seed and good stocks to plant, and we do not 
always succeed under these conditions. Nursery stock is 
grown from seed cuttings, grafting and budding. The grow¬ 
ing of seedling or stock for nurserymen is done by specialists, 
who are more successful than nurserymen that attempt to 
grow all kinds of nursery stock. The apple seedlings of 
most all the planting that is done in the United States is grown 
near Topeka, Kan., some growers planting as much as ioo 
acres. The seed mostly comes from France, and is saved from 
crabapples. A small quantity comes from the New England 
states, mostly from Vermont, and is saved by the parties that 
make a special business of it, collecting the pomace from 
cider-mills, and washing them out. The French seed costs 
from $ 7.00 to $ 10.00 per bushel of 40 lbs., in New York, 
according to the supply and the demand. The American 
seed costs about $ 3.50 to $ 10 . 00 . 
PEAR STOCKS. 
“Pear stocks have been mostly grown in France, and very 
few were grown in this country until the last few years, when 
they have been grown from seed from Japan. The first Japan 
seed of any importance was imported by J. D. Mosby & Bros., 
of Virginia Nurseries, some time about 1885 or 1886 . Since 
that time quantities of seed have been imported from Japan, 
and many nurserymen have been growing pear trees success¬ 
fully that could not have grown them from French-grown 
stocks. The cost of Japan seed in Japan is about 2 yens a 
lb., which is about $ 1.40 in gold, and with import duties and 
the expenses, cost will be from 50 cents to 75 cents, and you 
are not certain that your seed are good when you receive 
them. One lot of 200 lbs. I received some years ago ; did 
not get a seed to grow. I think they were old seed. Also 
lost 150 lbs. last season ; think they were good seed, but 
spoiled in preparation, and not planted soon enough in the 
spring. Also lost a lot of apple seed last season ; but the 
cause was they were not packed right in France, and were 
moulded on the way over here. 
SEED PACKED IN CHARCOAL. 
“ Seed from France is generally packed in barrels or tierces 
in fine charcoal ; but when received last season were in bags 
without charcoal. Those from Japan are packed in tin boxes 
with charcoal, sealed up and enclosed in heavy wooden boxes, 
and if not extremely dry, I have sometimes found mould in 
the center of the boxes. The apple and pear seedling 
growers receive their seed About the middle of February, and 
they soak them in water from 24 to 48 hours, and then they 
put them in coarse sacks, about one-fourth to one-half 
bushel, and put in layers spread out in ice-houses down 
in the ice, and they stay there until they get ready to 
plant, which is as early as they can get them in the ground, 
the latter part of March or the first of April, and the seed are 
sown in rows about 20 to 30 inches apart, with drill or by 
hand, sowing from one to two bushels to the acre ; it is best 
to sow thick, as seed that are sown thick generally come up 
best ; one seed helps the other, especially if the ground gets 
baked from heavy rains. 
STONE SEED. 
“All stone seed, such as peach, cherry, apricot and plum, 
are bedded in the fall, say during September or October, and 
either planted late in the fall or early in the spring. Most 
nurserymen plant their seed in the fall, which makes it cost 
less for them, and they do not have the work to do in the 
spring, when they are pushed with other work ; sometimes the 
weather is not favorable for early planting. We mostly do our 
planting in the spring, as we think we get a better system of 
roots from spring-planted seed ; although it takes several 
times as much time to pick out the kernals and plant. To 
propagate trees and stock from cuttings, the cuttings should 
be made up in the fall or winter, and either planted then or 
put in the cellar in sand to callous over, and should be planted 
as early as possible in the spring. If the cuttings start to 
push before planting, they seldom do well unless there is a 
good rain as soon as they are planted. 
APPLE TREES. 
“ Apple trees are grown by grafting and budding, but most 
all are grown by grafting, which is done in the winter, any 
time from January 1 st, until a few days before buds start in 
the spring. It is done by the piece root or whole root system, 
but I suppose that 90 to 95 per cent, of the trees are grown on 
the piece root. Piece root graft makes the cost much less by 
growing from grafts. It finds plenty for the men to do when 
the weather is such that they cannot work out doors, and all 
our men like to work in the grafting-house during the winter. 
After grafting, the grafts are packed away in boxes with sand 
or sawdust, and put in a room or cellar that does not freeze, 
and kept until spring. They should be planted as soon as 
the ground is in working order. If the ground should not be 
in condition in early spring, sometimes the graft will start to 
grow in the boxes, which causes them to heat, and they will 
not do well after heating. Seventy-five per cent, of what is 
planted is considered a good stand. We mostly get less, and I 
have seen large planting that not more than 25 per cent. grew. 
BUDDING. 
“Budding is done in stocks that have been planted out in 
the spring or fall before, and the budding season is from the 
1 st of June until the 1 st of October. July and August is the 
best season to bud if stocks are growing well, but if pear is 
left until late, they stop growing and will not do well. 
“We generally bud pears first, commencing about the 1 st of 
July, and soon after they are gone over, we go over them 
again, and put in another bud. Apples we will bud next, and 
then peaches, cherries and plums, and if the season is a dry 
one, we sometimes have to bud two or three times before we 
get a stand. 
