Cbe national IRurscryman. 
FOR GROWERS AND DEALERS IN NURSERY STOCK 
The National Nurseryman Publishing Co., Incorporated 
Vol, XXXI HATBORO, PENNA., MARCH 1923 ' No. 3 
Quality in Nursery Stock 
By S. W. FLETCHEll, The Pennsylvania Slate College 
Presented al Recent Meetings of the New Jersey and of the Indiana Stale Horticultural Societies 
The fruit grower lias shown little interest in Ihe qual¬ 
ity of his nursery sloek, other than to ascertain whether 
it is true to name, free from disease, and of good size. 
Me has not examined into its parentage or history. When 
lie buys apple trees, he is likely to send a list of his needs 
to a dozen nurserymen, with no specifications except va¬ 
riety, age and size, and then accept the cheapest quota¬ 
tion. Nevertheless, there are differences in Ihe value of 
nursery trees, within the variety, as great as the differ¬ 
ences between varieties. 
Fruit growing is a long term investment. The orchard 
is planted for a generation, perhaps longer. Mistakes 
made in the selection of trees cannot be remedied after 
planting but are an annual tax upon the business. The 
doubtful expedient of top-working may be resorted to in 
the case of mis-named tree tops, but nothing can be done 
to remedy unsuitable roots. When the tree is planted the 
roots are buried, and that is the end of them, so far as 
the fruit grower is concerned. 
The productiveness and profit of the orchard are as 
much dependent on the potential qualities wrapped up 
in these baby trees as on the skill of the grower. A 
man is what he is mainly through the operation of the 
laws of heredity and the influence of environment. A 
fruit tree is what if is, not only by reason of the care of 
the grower, but also by reason of heredity. There are 
two ways of securing better farm crops; by better cul¬ 
ture and by better seed. There are two ways of securing 
better orchards; by better care and by better nursery 
stock, and one is about as important as Ihe other. The 
man who tries to save five or ten dollars an acre by buy¬ 
ing “cheap” trees, without regard to their quality, is 
likely to lose fifty dollars in the sale of crops for every 
dollar saved in the purchase of slock. 
One of the few valuable by-products of the World War 
was the awakening of interest in fruit stocks. Hereto¬ 
fore, we had been content to use imported root stocks, 
mainly from France. The ravages of the war greatly 
reduced this supply and forced us to consider the possi¬ 
bility of growing them at home. The restrictions of the 
much discussed Quarantine 37. of the Federal Horticul¬ 
tural Board, also have served as a check to importations. 
Doubtless the time is near when practically all ol our 
fruit stocks will be produced in America. This prospect 
has created a new interest in the subject of quality in 
nursery stock and has stimulated research in this field. 
Lack of Uniformity in Orchards. The chief reason 
why we should be concerned about quality in nursery 
stock is the lack of uniformity in the behavior of differ¬ 
ent trees of the same variety in the same orchard. We 
hear a good deal about “boarder cows,” and hens that 
do not pay for their keep. There is great activity among 
stockmen and poultrymen in culling these drones from 
the herds and flocks. There are boarder trees in every 
orchard and the need for culling is just as great. A six- 
year record of an orchard of 1245 trees that I once owned 
showed that 375 of these trees produced an average of 
four barrels per tree annually, which was 60% of the 
entire crop. Two hundred and fifteen of the trees pro¬ 
duced less than one barrel per tree annually, and were 
kept at a loss. At the Maine Experiment Station the 
records of 881 young Ben Davis trees showed that cer¬ 
tain of them were of the “productive type”—spreading, 
with stout branches—and averaged 226 lbs. of fruit per 
year, while others were of the “unproductive type”— 
upright, with slender branches—and averaged 46 lbs 
of fruit per year. At the Pennsylvania Experiment Sta¬ 
tion it has been found that the chance of casual variation 
in orchard experiments is about 35; that, is to say, the 
natural variation between different trees of the same 
variety in the same orchard and under similar care is so 
great that it would be necessary to secure a difference 
in yield of more than 35% in order to be sure that there 
is a real difference due to a variation in the method of 
culture, such as a comparison of fertilized trees with 
unfertilized trees. 
Similar differences in production, under uniform cult¬ 
ural conditions, may be observed in every orchard. Only 
a part of this variation can be attributed to differences in 
soil, for unproductive trees often stand in the orchard 
surrounded by productive trees, with their roots inter¬ 
laced. Undoubtedly much of it is due to the character 
of the nursery trees which were planted; to variation 
in the seedling root stocks, to lack of a congenial union 
between stock and cion, to poor adaptation of the root 
stock to the soil, and possibly to bud variation. What¬ 
ever may be the cause, it is clear that a very large amount 
of variation does exist, and that this is responsible for 
heavy losses to fruit growers. One of the biggest prob¬ 
lems before nurserymen and fruit growers today is how 
to standardize nursery stock. 
Size of Tree. Quality in nursery stock has to do not 
merely with age and method of propagation, factors 
which will not be considered here, but also with size and 
