THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
455 
OUR QUIZ COLUMN 
THE BEST INFORMATION ON PRACTICAL QUESTIONS 
WINTER STORAGE OF PEACH TREES 
A correspondent asks for an expression of opinion and 
experience on the relative advantages of cellar and field 
storage for peach trees. 
A. We do not think there is any better way in the world 
to keep peach trees through the winter than properly heeled 
in, in trenches outside with covered tops. 
Painesville, Ohio. The Stores & Harrison Co. 
B. “Will peach trees winter better stored in trenches 
out of doors, covering the tops, or corded up in storage 
houses?” 
In answer we beg to say that years ago, before we had any 
storage houses we handled peaches out of doors, and generally 
with satisfactory results. In recent years we have stored 
indoors, and generally with satisfactory results. With us 
peaches sorted inside can be handled and shipped earlier in 
the spring than those heeled in outside, which, of course, is a 
decided advantage. 
Rochester, N. Y. Chase Brothers Company. 
C. We have never tried trenching our peaches out of 
doors over winter. We know that the climate here in 
Western New York is too severe for that. The tops would 
be killed back though possibly not so far but that the trees 
could be properly pruned for planting, after which they 
would come out all right. Cellar storage is practiced in this 
part of the country, but peach trees should not be corded up 
simply with moss or excelsior about the roots. Such treat¬ 
ment would be fatal to them. They should be heeled in, in 
sand. There would be no objection to cording them up if the 
roots were all just as carefully covered with moist sand as if 
standing in trenches indoors. The conditions should be 
made as nearly natural as possible. No possible objection 
could be offered to trees handled in this way. The only 
difference between this plan and trenching them outdoors is 
that the cellar-storage protects the tops from being winter- 
killed. The mold in the tops and the dying-back of the wood 
in the cellar, about which you hear occasional complaints, is 
the result of either too early digging or too late digging, and 
lack of attention to the question of proper ventilation of the 
cellars during the winter months. It is the penalty that 
carelessness must pay. 
Newark, N. Y. Jackson & Perkins Company, 
John Watson, Secretary. 
WINTER STORAGE OF SHRUBS 
The following interesting letter was written in answer to a correspond¬ 
ent’s query regarding the Meehan method of storing shrubs: 
Our storage cellars are built about the same as the storage 
cellars of other nurserymen. We have one storage cellar 
built of wood, with three dead air compartments in the walls. 
We have just completed a new storage cellar, the same 
size as the old one, but this we built of Natco hollow tile, giv¬ 
ing two air spaces in the cellar wall; and from our inspection 
of other buildings built of this tile, we believe this superior 
to anything else for this purpose. 
The interior of our storage cellar is divided into compart¬ 
ments or bins. The shrubs are tied in bundles of five each 
for convenience in handling. The bundles are laid in the bins 
in layers, and the roots of every layer thoroughly buried in 
sand, the front of the bins being closed up with boards as the 
bins are filled. By this method, we have a solid bin of 
shrubs with roots buried in damp sand, making evaporation 
impossible. We never have any mold or dampness in our 
storage cellars as we have open air shafts in the roof, so that 
there is a thorough current of air circulating through the 
building at all times. 
By reason of the fact that the roots of the plants are all 
buried in damp sand, it does not make any difference if we 
have a little freezing in the cellar, as that aids in purifying the 
air and avoiding dampness and mold—in fact, we prefer to 
have a little frost in our cellars on this account. 
We can take shrubs out of our cellars the first of June and 
have them in perfectly dormant condition, with both roots 
and tops perfectly fresh, on planting them out, we usually 
secure a ninety-five per cent stand. 
Dresher, Pa. Thomas Meehan & Sons, 
Thomas B. Meehan. 
PROPAGATING CATALPA BUNGEI 
Messrs. West Brothers, Damascus, Ohio, ask how Catalpa 
Bungei is propagated. 
Your inquiry on methods of propagating Catalpa Bungei 
was answered in our issue of August, 1910, p. 694, by Messrs. 
W. & T. Smith Co., of Geneva, who make a specialty of this 
ornamental. They say that it is grafted on straight stems, 
5-6 feet high. Stems are secured by cutting down severely 
for at least two years until they throw up a strong leader. 
The scion is inserted with the side or lip grafted firmly tied in 
and covered with grafting wax. The best time for grafting 
is about the first of May,* when the buds begin to start and 
the weather is warm enough to work the wax. Of course, 
only dormant buds are used. This is important. 
Thomas Meehan & Sons in the same issue say that their 
practice is to graft when the buds of the stock have broken 
and made from one-quarter to one-half inch of growth. They 
use the side grafting method. 
Editor. 
BOOKS ON PROPAGATION AND PLANT BREEDING 
S. Nischizaki, Corvallis, Ore., asks for a list of books on 
these subjects. 
We have pleasure in recommending the following books on 
propagation of plants and plant breeding: 
The Nursery Book, Bailey, The Macmillan Co., price, 
$i .25, is a first rate compendium of information on the propa¬ 
gation of indoor as well as outdoor plants, trees, and shrubs_ 
