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Section 34.66, P.L. & R. 
U. S. POSTAGE 
PAID 
Permit No. 131 
SALEM OREGON 

Dwart Eee Trees 
_The Western Washington Experiment Sta- 
tion recently issued a report on dwarf fruit 
trees which we will attempt to summarize 
here, briefly. 
A great interest has developed in dwarf 
fruit trees, partly for commercial use, but 
largely to provide small fruit trees adapted to 
small home grounds. Many have the idea that 
dwarf trees of all kinds of fruit are available. 
This, unfortunately, is not true. There is really 
no satisfactory dwarfing stock for stone fruits, 
although some trees are offered as dwarf 
cherry and dwarf plum and peach. (The term 
“dwarf” is a relative one. With the stone fruits 
the dwarfs are less vigorous than the trees on 
standard roots but are not the pint size trees 
that many picture in thinking of mature dwarf 
fruit trees. ) 
The great development in dwarf trees has 
taken place in apple and pear dwarfing. The 
Malling station in England has segregated the 
dwarfing stocks for apple and pear to the ex- 
tent that we can have trees that are very 
dwarf, or can have them semi-dwarf. The 
Malling IX rootstock is the most dwarfing. Its 
great fault lies in danger of breaking off at 
the union. It must be staked through much of 
its life to prevent breakage at the union. It is 
because of this poor union that dwarfing oc- 
curs, it is thought. 
Dwarf trees fruit earlier than most standard 
trees. They are easy to spray and to prune and 
are interesting to garden with. 
Fall Color 
Most gardeners are mindful of colorful 
flower colors but too few plan deliberately for 
fall color of leaves. Many trees and shrubs put 
on a wonderful display of red, orange and 
yellow color in the fall months. With a little 
planning, the garden can be made as interest- 
ing in the autumn months as during the spring 
period of blossom. 
Perhaps the most striking display of color 
that we observed in the nursery this fall came 
from our Oxydendron arboreum or sourwood 
tree. This fine tree is little known here, but 
is very much worth-while. In August it sends 
forth masses of “lily of the valley”-like flow- 
ers. Then in September the leaves fire up and 
hang on until well into November. Oxydendron 
is excellent for associating with other erica- 
ceous shrubs, such as heathers, rhododendrons, 
kalmia and pernettya. 
The Franklinia, another ericaceous tree, 
also produced masses of brilliant red leaves 


DECEMBER, 1950 
four to six inches long. The flowers on this 
tree appeared in late August and kept repeat- 
ing until late October. As we have observed in 
our own grounds this tree grows at about the 
same rate as the pink Florida dogwood. We 
believe it is most effectively grown with many 
stems like a large shrub. This is the long lost 
tree of Franklin’s time, discovered growing 
wild during colonial times, in Georgia, found a 
second time and since then never found grow- 
ing wild anywhere. It is a cousin of the cam- 
ellia and the tea. 
Red Maple is a larger growing tree that 
usually colors up in a stunning fashion in the 
fall. It is a medium growing tree. 
The native vine maple is a tough, hardy 
small tree or large shrub that puts on a fall 
display, especially colorful if planted in soil 
that is not well watered in fall. This variety 
can now be purchased from nurseries. 
Acer ginnala, or ginnala maple (sometimes 
called Amur maple) is a recent introduction 
from Manchuria. It makes a small tree or large 
shrub, similar to our vine maple, and colors 
most gorgeously in fall. From our single season 
of observation of this newcomer, we judge 
that this will become a very popular tree. Its 
habit of growth should make it valuable for 
use in small yards. 
The leaves of the Florida dogwood and the 
Japanese.snowball also add to the fall color 
display. 
Blueberries 
in the Garden 
H. E. DREW, Blueberry Expert 
The cultivated blueberries now grown for 
market or in home gardens are descendants 
of plants that were originally native to the 
swamps of New Jersey. Almost 50 years ago 
selections were made of the best plants to be 
found in the wild. They were crossed with 
each other and the plants from these crosses 
started the line of improved blueberries grown 
today. 
Since the original plants were found growing 
on very acid, swampy peat soil, the conclusion 
was drawn that blueberries required that kind 
of soil. Today, through many years of experi- 
ment and trials and error, we know that is not 
correct. 
Blueberries do require an acid soil. They 
require good moisture during the growing sea- 
son and they require a soil that is porous and 
open. It may be a peat or muck, or a loam or 

Here and There... 
The Madras Garden club is sponsoring a 
tree planting program in their, more or less, 
treeless town. They are also backing the land- 
scaping of a four acre tract near their grade 
school. 
The Salem Heights garden club sponsored a 
similar planting program, that of planting 
flowering crab apples along the “blossom 
route” in the hills south of Salem. After these 
trees attain a few more years growth people 
will be making a drive through this region 
just to admire the beautiful crab apple blos- 
soms. 
There are few small towns in this valley but 
what could be made finer places to live in if 
organized drives were made to line the curbs 
with beautiful trees, to improve church and 
school grounds and to beautify other public 
areas. 
Forty or fifty years ago, before the auto 
era, the curbs of Portland were lined with 
miles and miles of rose bushes, all planted be- 
cause of an organized effort, and Portland is 
to this day known as the rose city. Why cannot 
we have a “hawthorne city,” or a flowering 
plum or flowering cherry or flowering crab- 
apple town in our valley? Our garden clubs 
should take the lead in drives for better plant- 
ings which make for better towns and better 
places in which to live. 
Do you remember those hot days last sum- 
mer when you could have used some shade in 
your yard? Now is the time to provide for 
shade for the future. If quick shade is desired, 
one must either plant rapid growing trees or 
else buy large trees of the slower growing 
varieties. Weeping willow, Oregon maple, Car- 
olina poplar and locust are among the very 
fast growing sorts. However, fast growing 
trees have a way of developing into big trees 
that are very competitive with other vegeta- 
tion. If large trees are to be planted to start 
with, then one should plant in December, Jan- 
uary or February, at the latest, so that the 
big tree may become established before grow- 
ing season approaches. If one uses big trees 
he should be sure to buy trees that have been 
transplanted in the nursery several times. 
When one moves a tree that has never been 
transplanted, he cuts off most of the small 
active roots in digging the tree, leaving only 
the coarse, inactive roots. A transplanted tree 
is root-pruned when dug up, then replanted to 
grow in the nursery two or three additional 
years. This causes a development of fine roots 

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Shrubs Vines 
Fruit Trees 
Shade Trees 
Berry Bushes Rose Bushes 
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Salem, Oregon 
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