Rootstock

“ Rootstocks fulfilling two essential conditions should be chosen, those capable of adapting themselves to soil and climate where they are to be planted and of resisting diseases that may attack them under unsanitary conditions or under too intense cultivation. Among the numerous varieties tested, two deserve attention as choice rootstocks, one native, the other American = J. regia and J. nigra. ”

“ The present trend in the propagation of fruit trees is toward selection of particularly suitable rootstocks. Do some nut tree seedlings accept grafts more readily than others? We do not know. Numerous writers have discussed the idea of varying degrees of compatibility of rootstocks with scions and Jones [1] has brought together considerable evidence to relate incompatibility among plants with something parallel to allergy in animals. Initial growth of the scion leads to a flow of foreign bodies into the stock. ”

“ Cultivation. It is important to keep soil around isolated trees well stirred and to increase the area of cultivation as the rootspread increases.
5. Rootstocks. For the present the plants chosen for stocks have come from nigra, the only one that has proved itself in the matter of "take". It does well in moist soils.
Mr. Treyves has personally tried to graft Mayette and Franquette on Torreyi. He has found the "take" and the union perfect. But even though vegetation is promising we must wait 22 years for a full test. ”

“ We have made selections for rootstocks in which we have selected trees that were good, strong and vigorous—the most vigorously growing trees that we have known about, and yet at the same time produced a small nut or medium-sized nut that we could use for the production of rootstocks. And we have made progress on that, and we have demonstrated that there is a very marked difference between the graftability or budability of seedlings from certain parent trees. We have demonstrated that some varieties are much easier to propagate than are others. ”

“ There is one very unusual condition of the root-stock which has become of much importance in economy, though it is of little in botany; the forming, namely, of knots at the ends of the branches of the underground stem, where the new roots are to be thrown out. ”

“ Any portion of such a compound existence, grafted upon another stock, or planted immediately in the ground itself and established upon its own roots, will produce a new tree like the first, being furnished with supplies of nourishment it may grow indefinitely while retaining all the qualities of the parent stock—if that be healthy and vigorous so will this—indeed new life and vigor often seem to be imparted by a congenial thrifty stock, and a fertile soil, so that there does not appear to be any reason why the variety should ever run out and disappear. ”

“ Many acres are also devoted to the production of pedigree stock seed, from which the seeds we offer are grown. We plant the best seeds obtainable; then go over the crop, plant by plant, carefully "rogueing" and destroying the inferior and selecting and saving only the best. This stock seed from selected plants is sent to be grown on our farms in localities where the conditions of soil and climate are best adapted to the perfect development of the particular variety. It is the product of such stock seed only that we offer for sale. ”

“ Such a plant we have in the radish. The root is certainly a small one, but then it grows so rapidly that a good supply can be had within thirty days from the sowing of the seed, and a crop can be matured before the time for sowing turnips. Two crops may be easily obtained from land under potatoes—one before the tops cover the ground, the other after the tubers have been dug out. The yield of radishes, judging from the produce in the garden, would be at least six tons of roots and three tons of tops. I would suggest, then, that the radish should at once get a fair chance as a stolen crop. ”

“ If, as is generally the case, sufficient land is not attached to the factory to supply it with plant, the owner obtains what he requires by inducing the ryots in his vicinity to cultivate it upon a part of their land. Yet it is with them far from a favorite object of cultivation; and, indeed, if it were not for the money advanced to each ryot by the planter, to provide seed, &c., and which gives him a little ready money, bearing no interest, it is doubtful whether he would engage in the cultivation at all. ”

“ Forestry then, so far as it relates to the farm and woodlot, may be defined as dealing with trees as communities and the growing and marketing of these trees for a profit. It is a simple proposition, the same as raising corn. In raising corn, the ground is prepared, the seed is planted at a certain time in the spring, the necessary attention is given during the growing season and in the fall it is harvested and sold. A certain price is obtained for the grain and a certain price for the stalks, usually in the form of fodder for stock. ”

“ Some gardeners leave a piece of the stock about six inches long for the first year, in order to tie the first summer's shoot to it to prevent its being broken off by the wind. This may be well when the plant is exposed to high winds, but even then, if you see danger, you may tie a short stick on the top part of the stock, and to this tie the young shoot, and then the sap all goes into the shoot from the bud, instead of being divided between it and six inches of stock left in the other way. There are some advantages which budding has over grafting, and these I think it right to mention. ”

“ Northern types root-grafted on northern stocks not having been tested, no definite information can be given, of course; but with all southern varieties winter-killing in the North, when root-grafted on either northern or southern stocks, and the Virginia variety winter-killing when root-grafted on southern or northern stocks, and the Indiana varieties winter-killing both in the North and in the South when root-grafted on southern stocks, it seems reasonable to presume that the northern varieties root-grafted on northern stocks will also winter-kill. ”

“ A horse will do better on part oats and part carrots, or beets, than upon clear oats. For milch cows, young stock, and fattening cattle, and for sheep and fowls, they are highly valuable. With the facilities now enjoyed, they may be raised at a cheap rate. Plant scarlet short-top radish-seed in the rows, to shade the vegetating seed and young plants, and to mark the rows, to facilitate clearing and stirring the ground, while the plants are very young, and using the most approved root-cleaners, and the same amount of food can not be grown at the same price in any other crops. ”

“ The demand is so great and the supply so scarce it will be a long time before the market will be affected by the cultivated root.
The market has been kept up entirely in the past by the wild root, but it has been so carelessly gathered that it is almost entirely exhausted, so in order to supply this demand we must cultivate this crop. I prepare my beds five feet wide and as long as convenient. I commence by covering ground with a layer of good, rich, loose dirt from the woods or well-rotted manure. ”

“ Fruit can be raised on an uncongenial soil, by grafting into stocks adapted to that soil. Several varieties may be produced on the same tree, for ornament or economy of room. Dwarfs of any variety may be produced by grafting on dwarf stocks, and we may thus grow many trees on a small space. A slow-growing variety may be made to form a large top, by grafting into large vigorous-growing stocks. We are enabled to carry varieties to any part of the world, at a cheap rate, as the scions, properly done up, may safely be carried around the globe. ”

“ Except in regions of large-scale production, wheat is usually grown in rotation with other crops; for a nurse crop for grass seeding; and as a cover crop to prevent soil erosion and leaching. Some is sold, some kept for seed, and a percentage of the total production much larger than in areas of specialization is consumed on the farm and grown for such purpose. Such farmers, while growing some wheat, may even find the balance of their interest on the consumer's side. ”

“ In garden culture the rows need not be so far apart. It is very essential to keep the weeds down and the soil frequently stirred. The harvesting is simple. When growth is completed the roots are pulled, then the tops cut off and the turnips placed in root cellars or pits.
Turnips have an important place in a carefully planned system of farming. The root crop is a means of securing a large amount of most wholesome food for live stock, and at the same time it cleans the soil from weeds and prepares it for the growth of succeeding crops. ”

“ The root crops, for example, are naturally plants of two year’s duration. The first season is spent in gathering and storing up substance in a large root. During the following year the starch, sugar, oil, etc., is withdrawn and used in the production of a flower-stalk, upon which the crop of seeds is finally borne, and after this the plant dies.
Turnips are mainly grown as a second crop, following early potatoes, etc. The soil should be made fine and rich before the seed is sown. ”

“ In growing such dry land crops as barley, beans, buckwheat or dry land rice the soil of the field is at first fitted by plowing or spading, then furrowed deeply where the rows are to be planted. Into these furrows fertilizer is placed and covered with a layer of earth upon which the seed is planted. When the crop is up, if a second fertilization is desired, a furrow may be made alongside each row, into which the fertilizer is sowed and then covered. ”

“ The selection of suitable stocks is a matter still requiring much scientific experiment. The object of grafting is to expedite and increase the formation of flowers and fruit. Strong-growing pears, for instance, are grafted on the quince stock in order to restrict their tendency to form “gross” shoots and a superabundance of wood in place of flowers and fruit. Apples, for the same reason, are “worked” on the “paradise” or “doucin” stocks, which from their influence on the scion are known as dwarfing stocks. ”

“ By rotation grazing, that is, permitting the stock to feed first on one area and then on another, the grasses and forage plants are allowed to recuperate from the effect of grazing and allowed to reproduce. The stock is excluded from one area while the seed is maturing, and after the seed has matured and become scattered on the area the stock is allowed to graze on it. As the stock feeds on the plants it tramples the seed into the ground and thereby furnishes favorable conditions for the germination of the seed. ”

“ Still, I would advise any one who is supplying the market, thoroughly to prepare and enrich an acre or more of moist but well drained land, and plant some of the large, showy berries, like the Sharpless, Monarch, and Seth Boyden. If he has heavy, rich soil, let him also try the Jucunda, President Lincoln, and, especially, the Triomphe de Gand. These varieties always have a ready sale, even when the market is glutted with common fruit, and they often command very high prices. When the soil suits them, they frequently yield crops that are not so far below the Wilson in quantity. ”

“ It does not cost more than five or six cents per bushel to raise apples; hence they are one of the most profitable crops a farmer can raise. No farm, there [Pg 14] fore, is complete without a good orchard. The man who owns but five acres of land should have at least two acres in fruit-trees.
Soil.—Apples will succeed well on any soil that will produce good cabbages, potatoes, or Indian corn. Land needs as much manure and care for apple-trees as for potatoes. Rough hillsides and broken lands, unsuitable for general cultivation, may be made very valuable in orchards. ”

“ In all soils moderately supplied with these articles, all pear-trees grafted on seedling-stocks, and those that flourish on the foreign quince, will do well. A good yellow loam is most natural; light sandy or gravelly land is unfavorable. It is better to cart two or three loads of suitable soil for each tree on such land. The practice of budding or grafting on apple-stocks, on crab-apples, and on the mountain-ash, should be utterly discarded. For producing early fruit, quince-stocks and root-pruning are recommended. ”

“ We have seen those East where the elaboration of landscape gardening was made to add effect to and set off the nursery stock grown. We have seen West hundreds of acres covered with stock in a single nursery. Yet we have never seen the perfection of details coupled with strict accuracy as to name in the varieties of stock grown, united to evenness and vigor in growth, nor a stricter method displayed in adaptation of varieties suited to the climate of the West, added to the most perfect cultivation and handling of stock, than at the premium nurseries of Spaulding & Co., near Springfield, Ill. ”

“ Do not, like one of my neighbors, cultivate the corn row, that cost only about five cents a row for seed, four times, and leave the tree row, which cost two dollars per row, uncultivated. Do not use a stirring plow; it will hill up earth around the trees too much. With a lister you can list in your corn or furrow out potato rows, running east and west one year, and north and south the next. Growing crops for five or six years is long enough; then cultivation should be done with a disc, an Acme or a common harrow ”