DWARF FRUIT TREES

	OTHER BOOKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR
	LANDSCAPE GARDENING PLUMS AND PLUM CULTURE FRUIT HARVESTING, STORING, MARKETING SYSTEMATIC POMOLOGY

DWARF CHERRY TREE

Two years planted

DWARF FRUIT TREES

THEIR PROPAGATION, PRUNING, AND GENERAL MANAGEMENT, ADAPTED TO THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA

By

F. A. WAUGH

ILLUSTRATED

NEW YORK

ORANGE JUDD COMPANY

1906

Copyright, 1906
BY ORANGE JUDD COMPANY

PREFACE

The commercial interests have so continuously and completely held the horticultural stage in America during the last two decades that it has been impossible for amateur horticulture to get in a word edgewise. Any public speaker or writer has had to talk about several acres at a time or he would not be listened to. He has been obliged to insist that his scheme would pay on a commercial scale before anyone would hear, much less consider, what he had to tell.

But now a change is coming. Different conditions are already upon us. A thousand signs indicate the new era. With hundreds—yes thousands—of men and women now horticulture is an avocation, a pastime. They grow trees largely for the pleasure of it; and their gardens are built amidst surroundings which would make commercial pomology laugh at itself.

And so I undertake to offer the first American fruit book in a quarter century which can boldly declare its independence of the professional element in fruit growing. I am confident that dwarf fruit trees have some commercial possibilities, but they are of far greater importance to the small householder, the owner of the private "estate," the village dweller, the suburbanite and the commuter.

In other words, while I hope that all good people will be interested in dwarf fruit trees and that some of them will share the enthusiasm of which this book is begotten, I do not want anyone to think that I have issued any guaranty, expressed or implied, that dwarf trees will open a paying commercial enterprise. Because the argument that a thing pays has been so long the only recommendation offered for any horticultural scheme, many persons have formed the habit of assuming that every sort of praise stands on this one foundation.

F. A. Waugh.

Massachusetts Agricultural College, 1906.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

DWARF FRUIT TREES

I

GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS

A dwarf fruit tree is simply one which does not reach full size. It is not so large as it might be expected to be. It is smaller than a normal tree of the same variety and age.

There are indeed some trees which are normally dwarf, so to speak. They never reach a considerable size. They are smaller than other better known and related species. For example, the species Prunus pumila besseyi is sometimes called the dwarf sand cherry, simply because it is always notably smaller than related species. The Paradise apple is spoken of as a dwarf because it never attains the stature which other apples attain.

But in the technical sense, as the term is used by nurserymen and pomologists, a dwarf tree is one which is made, by some artificial means, to grow smaller than normal trees of the same variety.

These artificial means used for making dwarf trees are chiefly three: (1) propagation on dwarfing stocks, (2) repressive pruning, and (3) training to some prescribed form.

DWARFING STOCKS

The most common and important means of securing dwarf trees is that of propagating them on dwarfing stocks. These are simply such roots as make a slower and weaker growth than the trees from which cions are taken. This will be understood better from a concrete example. The quince tree normally grows slower than the pear, and usually reaches about half the size at maturity. Now pear cions will unite readily with quince roots and will grow in good health for many years. But when a pear tree is thus dependent for daily food on a quince root it fares like Oliver Twist. It never gets enough. It is always starved. It makes considerably less annual growth, and never (or at least seldom) reaches the size which it might have reached if it had been growing on a pear root.

This is, somewhat roughly stated, the whole theory of dwarfing fruit trees by grafting them on slow-growing stocks. The tree top is always under-nourished and thus restrained in its ambitious growth of branches, as seen in Fig. 1.

While the tree is made thus smaller by being grafted on a restraining root, it is not affected in its other characteristics. At least theoretically it is not. It still bears the same kind of fruit and foliage. Bartlett pear trees budded on quince roots yield fruit true to name. The pears are still Bartletts, and can not be told from those grown on an ordinary tree. Sometimes the fruit from dwarf trees seems to be better colored or better flavored than that from standard trees; but such differences are very delicate and usually receive slight thought.

FIG. 1—DWARF APPLE TREES IN WESTERN NEW YORK

Dwarf fruit trees have not been very largely grown in America, but have been much more widely used in Europe. This statement holds good either for commercial plantations or for private fruit gardens. They are coming into more common use in this country because, in both market orchards and amateur gardens, our pomology is coming to be somewhat more like that of Europe. Our conditions are approaching those of the Old World, even though they will always be very different from those of Europe in horticultural matters.

Dwarf fruit trees are particularly valuable in small gardens; and small gardens are becoming constantly more popular among our urban, and especially our suburban, population. This matter is discussed more fully in another chapter. Fruit of finer quality can be grown on dwarf trees, as a general rule, than can usually be grown on standard trees. Every year there are more people in America who are willing to take any necessary pains to secure fruit of extra quality. This remark applies particularly to amateur fruit growers and to owners of private estates who grow fruit for their own tables, but it is no less true of a certain class of fruit buyers, especially in the richer cities. Although $3 a barrel is still a high price for ordinary good apples, sales of fancy apples at $3 a dozen fruits are by no means infrequent in the city markets every winter.

FIG. 2—TRAINED CORDON APPLE TREES

From Loebner's "Zwergobstbäume"

In this respect also we are approaching European conditions. In the markets of the continental capitals in particular fancy fruits are frequently sold at prices which seem almost incredible to an American. Single apples sometimes bring 50 cents to a dollar, and peaches an equal price. Just recently a story has been going the rounds of the newspapers that the caterer for the Czar's table sometimes pays as high as $15 apiece for peaches for the royal table. Hereupon a solemn American editor remarked that if the whole royal family should live upon nothing but peaches it would still be cheaper than carrying on the Japanese war.

Now if there is anywhere within reach a market for apples or peaches at $3 a dozen specimens—and there unquestionably is—then it will pay to grow fancy fruits with special care to meet this demand. This kind of fruit can be grown better upon dwarf trees than upon standards in many cases, if not in most. At least such is the conviction of the present writer. Moreover this has been the experience in the old country.

With such facts in view there seems to be a possible future for dwarf fruit trees, even for commercial purposes. Their present utility in amateur gardens and on wealthy private estates can not be questioned. These various amateur and commercial adaptations of dwarf trees will have to be more carefully analyzed and discussed in a future chapter, and the subject may therefore be dropped for the present.

FIG. 3—BISMARCK APPLE, FIRST YEAR PLANTED

22 inches high; bearing 4 fruits

II

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES

It is a good prejudice which expects every man who writes anything to be enthusiastic over his subject. Such enthusiasm doubtless leads a writer many times to over-state his case, and to claim more than the calm judgment of the multitude will ratify. And on the other hand, readers usually tacitly discount the statements of any man who writes about any matter in which he is plainly interested. The present writer knows that he is also under the ban, and that the reader firmly expects him to claim more for dwarf fruit trees than their merits will fairly warrant. This expectation the writer hopes to disappoint. It will be enough to set down here the obvious advantages and disadvantages which the horticulturist will meet in handling dwarf fruit trees. These statements are mostly of matters of common experience and they need no coloring to make them serve their present purpose.

We may fairly set down the following good points standing more or less generally to the credit of dwarf fruit trees:

1. Early bearing.—This is a sufficiently obvious advantage. The Alexander apple will bear the second year after planting when grown as a dwarf, while it requires six to ten years to come into bearing as a standard. This habit of early bearing proves valuable in many ways. It encourages men to plant trees. The disinclination of old men to plant trees rests upon the slenderness of the chance that they will ever gather of the fruit. But a man may plant dwarf trees whenever his expectation of life is two years or more. Such trees would serve octogenarians, consumptives and those sentenced to be hanged for murder.

FIG. 4—PEAR TREE, TRAINED AS AN ESPALIER

Early bearing—to return to the subject—makes dwarf trees valuable to that large and unfortunately growing class of citizens who rent the premises where they live. They do not expect to stay more than five or six years in any one place. In that length of time ordinary trees would not begin to yield any fruit. But with dwarf trees there is excellent probability of seeing something ripen. Then again early bearing is a great advantage when one is testing new or old varieties. It is a great advantage when a commercial orchard is designed and when dwarf trees are used for fillers as explained below.

2. Small size.—The very smallness of the dwarf trees has many advantages in it. The trees are easier to reach and to care for. They are easier to prune and to spray. This facility in spraying is what has chiefly recommended smaller fruit trees to commercial fruit growers in recent years. Particularly in those places where the San José scale is a perennial problem a very large tree becomes an impossibility, and the smaller the trees can be the better it suits.

The small size of dwarf trees permits the planting of larger numbers on a given area. This is specially worth while to the amateur who has a small garden where only three or four standard trees could grow, but where he can comfortably handle forty or fifty dwarfs. Yet it is also worth the consideration of the commercial fruit grower who is trying to earn a profit on expensive land. If he can increase the number of bearing trees on each acre, especially during the early years of establishing his orchard, it almost certainly means increased income.

FIG. 5—BUSH APPLE TREE, THREE YEARS PLANTED

3. High quality.—It is not perfectly certain that every kind of fruit can be produced in higher quality on dwarf trees than on standards, but such is the general rule. This is notably true of certain pears, as Buerré Giffard and Doyenne du Comice, and it is generally the case with all apples that can be successfully grown on Paradise roots. One can secure size, color, flavor and finish on an Alexander or a Ribston Pippin, for example, which can never be secured on a standard tree. One who has not seen this thing done will hardly understand it; those who have will not need more argument. Such plums as we have fruited on dwarf trees have shown similar improvement in quality, being always distinctly superior to the same varieties grown on standard trees. The significance of these facts will appear at once to any one familiar with the course of the fruit markets in America. There are greater rewards awaiting the fruit grower who can produce fruit of superior quality than the one who succeeds merely in increasing the quantity of his output.

SPECIAL USES FOR DWARF TREES

These various items of advantage recommend dwarf fruit trees for several specific purposes, some of which are worth pointing out in detail.

1. For suburban places.—A large and increasing percentage of our population now lives the suburban life—in that zone where city and country meet. They have small tracts of land, which, however, they too often lease instead of owning. On these they do more or less gardening,—usually more, in proportion to the size of their holdings. For them dwarf fruit trees are a precious boon. It is possible to plant three hundred to five hundred dwarf fruit trees on a quarter of an acre, where less than a dozen standard trees would flourish. This gives the opportunity to experiment with all sorts and varieties of fruits, a privilege very dear to the heart of the commuter. The dwarf fruit trees also work more readily into a scheme of more or less ornamental gardening, where fruits are combined with vegetables and flowers. Especially if some sort of formal gardening is attempted, the cordons, espaliers and pyramids exactly suit the demands. Then the fact, already mentioned, that the dwarf trees come into bearing much sooner, is a consideration of the highest value to the suburban gardener. He fully expects to move from one home to another at least once in ten years, if not once in five. With the best of intentions and the most favorable of opportunities he can hardly expect to settle down anywhere for life. The suburbs themselves change too rapidly for that; and the place which today is away off in the country may be all covered with factories five years from now. It is terribly discouraging, under such circumstances, to plant a tree knowing that ten years must pass before any considerable fruitage can be expected from it. It is altogether another feeling with which one plants a tree which promises fruit within two or three years.

So that, whatever the drawbacks to the planting of dwarfs, they are the salvation of the suburban garden. For such circumstances they can be freely recommended, without exception or reservation.

2. For orchard fillers.—As commercial orcharding becomes more refined, under the stress of modern competition, and as good orchard land increases in value, up to one hundred, two hundred, or even three hundred dollars an acre, new methods must be adopted with a view to increasing the returns. This opportunity looms especially large for the first few years after the establishment of the commercial orchard, more particularly the apple orchard. When standard trees are planted thirty-five to the acre, which is now the usual practice, the land is not more than one-fourth occupied for the first five years, and not more than half occupied for the first ten years. Indeed it is full twenty years from the time of planting before the thirty-five apple trees will use the whole acre. And since a good farmer can not afford to let expensive land lie idle he has before him a very pretty problem to determine how the space between the standard trees shall be utilized during the early years of the orchard's growth.

Several different methods are in vogue for the solution of this problem; but probably the best one is that system which supplies fillers or temporary trees between the standard or permanent ones. In an orchard of standard apple trees these fillers may very properly be dwarf apple trees; or between standard pears dwarf pears may be planted. If there are thirty-five standard apple trees to an acre, and if a dwarf tree is placed half way between each two standards in every direction, including the diagonal direction, this will make one hundred and five dwarf trees, or one hundred and forty trees in all, instead of the thirty-five trees with which the acre of apple orchard land is more commonly furnished. The dwarf apple trees will be bearing good crops at the end of five years at most; and they can be kept on the land for five years longer at the least, before they will begin to crowd the permanent standards. During these five years, if the orchard has a paying management at all, they will easily pay all the expenses of the enterprise, and should leave a substantial balance of profit.

As this system of filling, or interplanting, commercial orchards is becoming more and more common, the suitability of dwarf trees, for this purpose, becomes more generally evident.

3. For school gardens.—Thus far school gardens in America have been mostly temporary and experimental affairs. But we are already satisfied that they have come to stay, and that gardening in some form will be a permanent feature of the curriculum in many of our best schools. As soon as a school garden becomes a permanent institution, with ground of its own to be held in use year after year, the dependence on annual crops will give way to the use of various perennial plants, shrubs and trees.

And among these dwarf fruit trees will naturally be one of the first introductions. Their small size adapts them to the school premises, their habit of early bearing again serves to recommend them most strikingly, and the special opportunity which they offer to pupils to observe details of pruning and other items of tree management, make them almost a first necessity in the permanent school garden.

4. For covering walls and fences.—There are many places about every farm, suburban establishment, or even about many city homes, where back walls and fences could be put out of sight very agreeably by almost any sort of foliage. Various ornamental climbers and creepers are in vogue for this service; but a certain number of such unattractive walls and fences could be treated quite as acceptably, from the esthetic point of view, with trained fruit trees, and the result would be more satisfactory in some other ways. Apples or pears trained as cordons or espaliers, or peaches, nectarines, or cherries in fan forms, will thrive on almost any brick or wooden wall, except those with a northern front. It is necessary only to supply a proper soil, to plant sound trees of proper sorts, and to give them the prescribed care. The result is not only a thing of beauty but one of practical utility as well.

There are many places where the owner of a city or suburban lot can secure the fun and the substantial benefits belonging to the fruit grower on land that would be otherwise wasted, if he will only build a woven wire fence on the property line between him and his not-too-agreeable neighbor, using this fence as a support for a row of cordon plums, pears or apples. If he has time and inclination to do a little more work with the trees he can better plant U-form peaches, nectarines or apricots, or he can grow plums in U-form, or he can have fan-form cherry trees, or apples or pears in Verrier-palmettes. One of the most interesting and productive lots in the author's dwarf fruit garden is a row of plum trees on such a woven wire trellis. The trees in this row stand two feet apart, and form a perfect screen. (Fig. 6.) The majority of the trees which were necessarily taken for planting this row were not propagated on suitable stocks, and many varieties were introduced for experimental purposes which were obviously unadapted to this mode of training, but nevertheless the net result has been highly satisfactory.

FIG. 6—PLUMS AS UPRIGHT CORDONS, SET TWO FEET APART

In a very similar manner apple, pear or plum trees may be trained so as to form an arched arbor way. In this kind of make-up they present a most agreeable novelty. An example of this kind of training is shown in the illustration, page 5. For this purpose cordon trees are usually best; though peach or apricot trees in U-form or double U-form will answer very well. Even apple trees or pears formed as palmettes-Verrier can be carried up over an arched trellis.

Mr. Geo. Bunyard in "The Fruit Garden" tells of carrying apple trees up over the slate roof of an outbuilding, with marked success. The fruit-bearing portion of the trees, lying there on the slate roof beautifully exposed to the sun above, and assisted by the heat absorbed and radiated by the slate, yielded large crops of apples of very superior quality.

SOME DISADVANTAGES

There are, of course, some disadvantages in growing dwarf fruit trees, and these should be examined with as much care as the advantages. The more important ones are as follows:

1. Greater expense.—The trees are somewhat harder to propagate, and therefore cost more. There is no general demand for them in America, so that they are carried by only a few nurseries and are not looked upon as staple goods even with those dealers; and on this account the price is necessarily increased. Thus each tree costs more than a similar tree of the same age and variety propagated in the usual way. But the greatest increase of expense comes from the fact that many more trees are required to plant the same area. There is often an advantage, as already argued, in planting more trees to the acre, but it costs something to gain this advantage. An acre of ground can be planted with thirty-five standard apple trees set thirty-five feet apart each way, and these trees will cost, roughly estimating retail prices at $12 a hundred, $4.20. To plant an acre to dwarf apple trees, setting them six feet apart each way, which is about as thick as these trees should ever be planted, will require 1,210 trees. Estimating the retail price roughly at $15 a hundred this would make the first cost $181.50—a considerably greater initial investment in the orchard.

2. The trees are shorter lived.—This statement is true for certain kinds of dwarf trees, but not for others. Certain varieties of pears, for example, which do not unite well with the quince root, naturally make short lived trees. On the other hand other varieties of pears appear to live as long and thrive fully as well on quince roots as on pear roots. There is a common belief, especially in England, that apples worked on French paradise roots are apt to be short-lived. The nurserymen who hold this belief contend, however, that the so-called English Paradise, more properly called Doucin, supplies a stock on which apples will live to as great an age as on any other stock whatever. There is some evidence to show that vigorous varieties of plums worked on Americana roots or on dwarf sand cherry are shorter lived than the same varieties on freer growing stocks. In many cases, however, dwarf trees live as long as standards; and in almost all cases they live long enough.

3. They require more care.—This objection stands particularly against the dwarf trees trained in special and intricate forms. Such trees undoubtedly do require more careful attention, more frequent going-over, and more hand work in the course of the year. It is probably not true that apples, pears, plums or peaches in bush or pyramid forms require any more labor or attention than standard trees to secure equally good results. On the other hand it must not be forgotten, as has already been pointed out, that whatever care may be required is much more easily given the dwarf trees than the standards.

4. They are not a commercial success.—This statement, too, though undoubtedly having some truth in it, can not stand without qualification. It is certainly true that no one could grow ordinary varieties of apples, like Baldwin or Ben Davis for instance, on dwarf trees in competition with men who are growing the same varieties on standards. It is probably true that fancy varieties of apples can be grown with profit on dwarf trees, but even this can not be strongly urged. So far as apples are concerned the chief value of dwarf trees for modern commercial enterprises in America will come through their use as fillers between rows of standard trees. In the case of pears the situation is somewhat more favorable to dwarf trees. There are a number of orchards in this country where pears have been successfully grown for market, these many years, on dwarf trees. The famous and everywhere planted Bartlett succeeds admirably on the quince stock wherever the soil is suited to it. No successful commercial orchards of dwarf peaches or plums can be cited in this country, individual trees of these kinds even being extremely rare; yet there is good reason to suppose that under favorable conditions dwarf peaches and plums may have some commercial value. Such value may be more in the way of supplementing standard trees than in superseding them, but it is still worth consideration. So that, after all, when we say that dwarf fruit trees are not a commercial success we mean merely that they will not take the place of standard trees. The large market orchards must always continue to be made up of standard trees; but in their own way the dwarf trees will find a limited place even in commercial operations, and this use of them seems destined to be more general in the future than it has been in the past.

III

PROPAGATION

The propagation of dwarf fruit trees is in some senses a more critical and interesting problem than the propagation of ordinary nursery stock. The successful production of a dwarf fruit tree depends primarily on its propagation. The selection of stocks for dwarfing purposes is necessarily a complicated matter. Under the terms of the problem it is impossible that the stock and the cion which are wedded together should be very closely related. The stock must be distinctly different and pronouncedly dwarfer in his habit of growth.

It is not always an easy matter to find a stock which is thus distinctly different from the tree which it is desired to grow and which will at the same time form with it a vigorous and long lived union. It is necessary further that the propagation can be carried on with ease and with a fair degree of success in commercial nurseries. If difficult methods of grafting are required, or if only a small stand of nursery trees can be secured, the undertaking becomes too expensive from the nurseryman's point of view.

The methods of propagating dwarf trees are for the most part the same as those used in reproducing the same kinds of fruit on standard stocks. As a matter of fact nearly all dwarf trees are propagated by budding. Apples, pears, and plums can be readily grafted, but budding is simpler, speedier, and usually the cheaper process in the nursery. In the upper Mississippi Valley, where plums are somewhat extensively worked on Americana plum roots, grafting is rather common. The side graft and the whip graft are the forms most used.

The theory of the production of a dwarf fruit tree by the restraining of its growth has already been mentioned in another chapter. The dwarf stock simply supplies less food than is required for the normal growth of the variety under propagation, and the tree is, in a sense, starved or stunted into its dwarf stature.

As the selection of proper stocks—the adaptation of stock to cion—is one of the fundamental problems in dwarf fruit growing, we may now address ourselves to that. We will take up the different classes of fruit in order.

THE APPLE

Everyone who has observed the wild or native apples which grow in New England pastures must frequently have noticed certain dwarf and slow-growing specimens. It it not difficult to find such which do not reach a height of five feet in ten years of unobstructed growth. If the cions of ordinary varieties of apples like Greening and Winesap should be grafted upon these stocks, the result would be a dwarf Greening or Winesap. If these dwarf wild apples could be produced with certainty and at a low price, they would furnish a source of supply for dwarf apple stocks.

The Paradise apple so-called (Fig. 7) is simply one of these dwarf varieties which can be reproduced freely and cheaply. This reproduction is secured nearly always by means of mound layerage. As the variety does not come true to seed, any more than such varieties as King or Hubbardston do, some such method of propagation is necessary. This Paradise apple is naturally inclined to stool out somewhat from the roots. This habit is encouraged by cutting the plants back to the ground. When the young shoots are thrown up they are banked up with a hoe or by plowing furrows up against the rows of plants. The young shoots then form roots at the base and these rooted shoots or layers are removed when one year old. They are then planted in nursery rows in the spring, where they are usually budded the following July or August.

These Paradise stocks are largely grown in France. Practically all the supply comes from that country. The nurserymen who grow dwarf apple trees in America import their stocks from France during the winter, plant them in nursery rows early in the spring, bud the stocks the following July or August, and have the dwarf apple trees for sale the second year following.

This Paradise is the dwarfest stock known for apples. Its effect on nearly all varieties is very marked, causing them to form very small trees and to bear very early. Some of the more vigorous varieties, like Northern Spy for instance, do not submit kindly to such treatment. For this, or possibly for more recondite reasons, a few varieties do not succeed well on Paradise roots. The writer would be glad to give a list of such varieties which are not adapted to the Paradise stock, but confesses he is unable to do so.

FIG. 7—PARADISE APPLE STOCKS IN EARLY SPRING

The Doucin stock is simply another variety of dwarf apple. It is more vigorous and larger growing than the Paradise, and, therefore, produces a tree, when ordinary varieties are grafted upon it, about midway in size between the ordinary standard apple and the same variety growing upon Paradise.

This Doucin is sometimes called the English or Broad-Leaved Paradise, but this name is misleading. It will be well to remember this in buying stocks or in buying trees in England. Dwarf apples are largely propagated in England, but the trees which are said to be on Paradise roots are often on Doucin. This confusion comes about from the Englishman's habit of calling Doucin the Broad-Leaved Paradise.

The Doucin is perhaps better for the free-growing bush form trees, especially where excessive dwarfing is not needed. For orchard planting in the United States this Doucin stock would be likely to suit many growers better than Paradise. For trees which are to be kept within very narrow bounds, or those which are to be trained in particular forms, the Paradise stock is better. For all sorts of cordon apple trees, the Paradise is essential.

THE PEAR

Dwarf pears are always propagated on quince roots. Any kind of a quince may be used as a stock for pears, but the one commonly employed by nurserymen is the Angers quince, named after Angers, France, from which place the supply largely comes. Almost all the quince stocks used by nurserymen in America are imported from France. As in dealing with apple stocks, the importation is made during the winter, the stocks are planted in nursery rows in the early spring, and are usually budded in July or August of the same year.

A few varieties of pears do not make good unions with the quince. In some cases this antipathy is overcome by the expedient of double-working. The quince root is first budded with some variety which unites well with it. After this pear cion has grown one year, the refractory variety is budded upon this pear shoot. The complete tree, when it leaves the nursery, consists of three pieces,—a quince root below, a pear top above, and a short section of only one or two inches in length of some other variety of pear which simply holds together the two essential parts of the tree.

This practise of double-working is sometimes undertaken with other kinds of fruit for special purposes. There are no other cases, however, in which it becomes a generally recognized commercial practise.

THE PEACH

The peach is dwarfed by budding it upon almost any kind of a plum root, especially upon the smaller growing species of plums. The stock most used is the ordinary Myrobalan plum. This is simply because the Myrobalan stock is commoner and cheaper. The St. Julien plum probably furnishes a better dwarfing stock for peaches, but it is more expensive and harder to work.

The Americana plum, now somewhat largely grown for stocks in the States of the upper Mississippi valley, furnishes a good dwarfing stock for the peach. According to the writer's experience the Americana stock gives better results with peaches than either Myrobalan or St. Julien. It should be observed that this stock requires budding rather early in the season.

The dwarf sand cherry, which is further discussed below under plums, also makes a good stock for peaches. As this stock is very dwarf, it produces the smallest possible peach tree. The peach cion rapidly overgrows the stock and the tree can hardly be expected to be long lived. The growth is very vigorous and satisfactory during early years, however. I have not had an opportunity to determine how long peaches will live and thrive on this stock.

Nectarines can be grown in dwarf form in exactly the same manner employed for peaches.

THE PLUM

In all the old books it is said that dwarf plum trees are secured by working on Myrobalan stocks. This statement is hardly true according to our present standards, and is certainly far from satisfactory. This rule came into vogue at the time when only large growing Domestica plums were propagated in this country and the stocks used were mostly either "horse plums" or Myrobalan. The Myrobalan stock does give a somewhat smaller tree than the old fashioned horse plums; but this Myrobalan stock has been for many years the one principally used for propagating all kinds of plums in America. It has come to be looked upon as a standard rather than a dwarf stock. When we think of dwarf trees, therefore, we expect to see something smaller than what will grow under ordinary circumstances on a Myrobalan root.

The Americana plum, already mentioned, is a first-rate stock in nearly all respects except that it can not be bought so cheaply as the Myrobalan. It is now grown to a considerable extent by nurserymen in Minnesota, Iowa and the neighboring States. If grafted, or budded early, all varieties of plums take well upon it. The trees on Americana roots make a good growth in the nursery and are easily transplanted. The tree produced on this stock is only moderately dwarf. Still this dwarfing effect is always well marked, this result being shown by the overgrowing of the cion. The top thus appears to outgrow the root, and such trees are apt to blow over during wind storms. Suitable precautions should be taken to guard against damage of this sort.

Prof. A. T. Erwin of Iowa writes on this subject as follows:

"Regarding the Americana as a plum stock, I would state that we are using it by the thousands out here; in fact, have about quit using anything else. As a stock for the European and Japanese sorts, it does dwarf them, and the cion tends to outgrow the stock at the point of union, causing an enlargement. The union is also not very congenial, and they frequently break off on account of high winds. However, in my experience and observation, this is not the case when the Americana is used as a stock for Americana varieties. It does not dwarf the trees seriously and the union is splendid. It is by all odds the best stock we have for plums, and since we do not grow anything but Americana varieties, it works first rate. It does tend to sprout some, though there is little trouble in this regard after the trees come into bearing."

FIG. 8

THE WESTERN SAND CHERRY

Prunus pumila besseyi

The sand cherry seems to be the dwarfing stock par excellence for the plum. This sand cherry is a heterogeneous species, or as some botanists think, is three species, ranging throughout the Northern States from Maine to Colorado. The narrow leaf upright form growing about five feet tall, known as Prunus pumila, is found along the Atlantic coast. The broad leafed dwarfer form known as Prunus pumila besseyi or P. besseyi, is found in the Western States. Another rarer form of more irregular growth known as Prunus pumila cuneata, or as P. cuneata, is found in the North Central States.

FIG. 9—UPRIGHT CORDON PLUM

With buds set into the naked trunk

All of these different forms may be used for propagating plums or peaches. The western form (P. besseyi) (Fig. 8) is in some respects the best, producing the dwarfest and apparently the best trees. In our experience, however, nearly all varieties of plums and peaches give a better stand of trees when budded on P. pumila. Prunus cuneata is inferior to the others.

The eastern form, P. pumila, has another advantage from the standpoint of the nurseryman in that it is more easily propagated from cuttings. For the most part the western sand cherry is propagated from seed. Both forms can be propagated from layers.

NURSERY MANAGEMENT

Dwarf trees are managed in the nursery very much the same as standards of the same varieties. There are no special points to be observed except in the formation of the tops. Western New York nurserymen, who now grow the principal supply of dwarf apple and pear trees, have the custom of forming their nursery stock with high heads. That is, the heads are formed at a height of eighteen inches to three feet from the ground. In this matter the pattern is taken after the usual style of standard trees. This is quite wrong. Of course, some planters might like to have dwarf trees with trunks two or three feet tall, but the best form has a much shorter stem. At any rate the buyer of dwarf trees ought to be at liberty to form the head within three or four inches of the ground if he so desires. This becomes very difficult if the tree is once pruned up to a height of two or three feet.

In order that the planter may reach his own ideal perfectly in this matter, it is sometimes necessary to buy one year old trees, what the English nurserymen call maidens. This, of course, enables the tree planter to form the head wherever he desires.

IV

PRUNING DWARF FRUIT TREES

The pruning of dwarf fruit trees is a matter of the greatest consequence, for on proper pruning depend both the form and the productivity of the trees. Some of the details of management will be explained in the succeeding chapters, dealing with the particular kinds of fruits, but a few general statements should be set down here.

1. The trees are severely headed in. This applies more particularly to bush and pyramid forms. By the term "heading in" we refer to the shortening of the leaders. Such shortening is usually given at the spring pruning, while the trees are dormant. The leaders may be headed in at times, however, during the latter part of the growing season, in July. Such stopping of growing leaders will be practised more often on young trees just coming into bearing than on old trees. (Fig. 10). Constant heading back of some sort, however, is required in nearly all cases, if the tree is to be retained in its dwarf form. The mistake has often been made of thinking that a tree propagated on a dwarf root would take care of itself.

2. Summer pruning is essential. In most American orchard practise one annual pruning (sometimes one pruning every five years!) is considered sufficient, and systematic summer pruning is seldom or never given. Now summer pruning tends much more to repress the growth of a tree than winter pruning does. In fact, heavy winter pruning leads rather to increased vegetative vigor. Aside from any special system of pruning, therefore, this rule is to be remembered, that summer pruning is desirable, on general principles, for dwarf fruit trees.

FIG. 10—BUSH APPLE, THREE YEARS OLD

Showing strong leaders formed during the summer

3. Side shoots usually need pinching during the growing season. Leaders are more frequently allowed to grow unchecked throughout the season, or are stopped only late in their period of development. In the pomaceous fruits, which form distinct fruit spurs, the checking of these side shoots helps toward the production of fruit buds. As long as every bud is allowed to push out into a strong shoot no fruit spurs can become established. Thus the summer pinching of the side shoots on apples and pears has the purpose of encouraging the formation of fruit spurs. On peach and plum trees equally distinct fruit spurs do not form; but if the side shoots are allowed to push forth unrestricted they are apt to choke one another. There will be too many of them, they will not get light enough, their growth will be weak and sappy, and they will not form fruit buds. Good fruit buds on a peach tree, for example, form on strong, clean, healthy shoots of this year's growth for next year's crop of fruit. It is seen, therefore, that in nearly all sorts of dwarf fruit trees the summer pruning is especially directed to the suppression or regulation of the growth of side shoots.

This part of the treatment becomes of prime importance in dealing with cordons and espaliers.

4. The control of the fruit spurs or of the side shoots here contemplated requires that the trees be gone over more than once during the growing season. In fact, four successive examinations of the tree are usually required. Old trees can sometimes be managed with two or three, but young ones, on the other hand, will sometimes require six or more. Of course, there are usually only a few shoots that need attention at each succeeding visit, and the work can be very rapidly performed. The first pruning, or pinching, falls about three weeks after the trees have started into growth. The next one comes ten days later, the next one ten days later again, and the fourth pruning two weeks after the third. From this time onward the intervals lengthen. These specifications, of course, are only approximate and suggestive. Some judgment is required to select just the proper moment for pinching back a shoot and even more to select the time for a general summer pruning. Those trees which enjoy the sympathetic presence of the gardener every day are sure to fare best. The bulk of this pruning can be done with the thumb nail and forefinger, but I find a light pair of pruning scissors pleasanter to work with.

5. Root pruning is sometimes advisable. Since the whole program is arranged to check the growth of the dwarf tree, root pruning would naturally fit well with the other practises recommended. Root pruning checks the growth of a tree about as positively as any treatment that can be devised. When dwarf pear or apple trees seem to be making too much wood growth and not enough fruit, they can be taken up, as for transplanting, during the dormant season and set right back into place. This digging up and replanting is always accompanied by some cutting of roots. The whole root system is disturbed and has to re-establish itself before the top vegetates very strongly once more. Such root pruning ought to be done late in the fall. It is a special practice, suited to refractory cases, and the gardener is not recommended to indulge in it too freely.

6. A certain equilibrium between vegetative growth and fruit bearing should be established at the earliest possible moment, and should be maintained thereafter. Of course, some such equilibrium is sought in the management of a standard tree; but it is secured earlier in the life of the dwarf tree and should be much more accurately maintained. The tree must make a certain amount of growth each year, but this must be only enough to keep it in good health, and to furnish foliage enough to mature the fruit. Beyond this wood growth the tree should bear a certain amount of fruit every year, for annual bearing is not only an ideal but a rule in the management of dwarf trees. This equilibrium once established must be maintained not by haphazard pruning, but by some suitable system. If there is the proper balance between summer pruning and winter pruning, combined with proper control of cultivation and fertilization, then the balance between vegetation and fruitage can be kept up. It is a delicate business, like courting two girls at once, but it can be carried out successfully.

7. The training of trees into mathematical forms is largely a mechanical process. For the most part the trees are shaped while they are growing. The young shoots are twisted and bent to the desired positions, and are tied into place until the stems become hardened. There are many clever little tricks for expediting this sort of work and for making the results more sure, but a rehearsal of them here would be tedious. The most important rule to remember is that constant attention must be given the shoots while they are growing. Mistakes are corrected with difficulty after an undesirable form has been allowed to harden.

V

SPECIAL FORMS FOR TRAINED TREES

We have already explained the connection between dwarf trees and the practise of training them in special forms. It is true that this practise looks childish to American eyes. It seems to be only a kind of play, and a rather juvenile sport at that. Nevertheless we should understand that in some parts of the world it is a real and profitable commercial undertaking. We should consider also that in other places, where fruit of very high quality is better appreciated, perhaps, than it is in America, the extra trouble is thought to be worth while for the superior quality which it gives the fruit. As this matter is coming to be of more importance in America also, and as the interest in amateur fruit growing is enormously increasing, we may fairly begin to talk about these methods.

The formation of trees into bushes and pyramids, by means of systematic pruning according to a definite plan, as explained in the succeeding chapters, while apparently simpler and more reasonable to our American eyes, it is still a method of training the tree. The fruiting branches are placed at definite points and the fruit spurs are encouraged to grow in regular succession. It is not a very great step from this to a distribution of the branches into a more precise form.

The different forms which are used most commonly are named and classified in the following outline:

A.—Forms of three dimensions:
a. Vase or bush
b. Pyramid
c. Winged pyramid, etc.
B.—Forms of two dimensions:
a. Various espaliers
b. Palmette-Verrier
c. Fans or Fan-espaliers
d. U-form and double U-form
C.—Trained to a single stem:
a. Upright cordon
b. Oblique cordon
c. Horizontal cordon
(with one arm)
(with two arms)
d. Serpentine cordon, etc.

Among the forms of three dimensions none is of much practical importance besides the pyramid and bush or vase form. These are sufficiently explained in the chapters on pears and apples. Here we need only to define them. The pyramid tree is one which has a straight central stem with branches radiating therefrom. It is especially adapted to upright growing varieties of pears. The bush or vase form has several main arms or branches, all standing out from approximately the same point and growing upward at a more or less acute angle, thus forming roughly a vase. The secondary branches put out from these, bearing fruiting wood, as the gardener may order.

FIG. 15—PEARS IN DOUBLE U-FORM

From Loebner's "Zwergobstbäume"

The flying pyramid or winged pyramid, described in all European books, is considerably different from the ordinary pyramid and is more precise in its design. Usually six arms are brought out at the base of the tree. These are grown in a direction approximately horizontal until they reach a convenient length,—say two to three feet. They are then suddenly bent upward and inward and are conducted along wires set for this purpose until they meet in a common point with the main stem of the tree some four to eight feet above where the branches put out. There is thus formed a precise mathematical pyramid. Along these main arms fruiting spurs are allowed to grow, but no branches are expected to develop.

Sometimes the flying pyramid is made more elaborate by bending the arms into a spiral form. Other more or less complex modifications are practised to some extent. All of them are to be regarded merely as curiosities and as of no practical value.

The various forms of espaliers and fan-shaped trees have their special and legitimate uses. It may be said here that the Palmette-Verrier is regarded generally as being the most successful for the largest number of varieties of fruits. It is a safe rule also that the simpler forms are generally the better. With rare exceptions a tree confined to a moderately small space is more satisfactory than one trained over a large space.

Great care must be exercised in forming these trees. If the geometrical style of training is undertaken at all, it should be carried out with considerable precision. If one arm happens to be placed a little higher, or at a little more moderate angle, or otherwise more favorably than the corresponding arm, it will very soon divert to its own use the major portion of food supplied by the top. It will outgrow its mate and the form which the gardener designed will eventually be lost. It will be seen at once that this condition makes the same care and precision necessary in all forms of training.

Fig. 16—PEARS IN U-FORM

Sometimes called two-arm upright cordons

The U-form classifies somewhere between the cordon and the espalier. It consists of two upright branches joined to a single trunk below by an arc of a circle. The fruit is all borne on the two parallel stems which are treated essentially the same as upright cordons. (Fig. 17.)

The double U-form is made by growing two U's from the same tree. The stem is first divided near the ground into two branches and each of these is immediately divided into two more. The tree thus provides four parallel and equally spaced upright and fruiting stems equal to four upright cordons, except that they are all supported from a single trunk. The U- and double U-forms are employed mostly for plums, apricots, peaches and nectarines.

One occasionally sees much more elaborate schemes of training than any here mentioned. There are complex geometrical designs, even pictorial figures—birds, dogs, and beer-steins—and sometimes the initials of the gardener, or the name of his kingly and imperial majesty. In every case the method of producing these forms is practically the same. A frame is built of wood or wire in the form which it is desired to give the tree. Branches are developed at suitable points on the tree and these are tied out while they are growing to the wooden or metal form. It does not require any special care or ingenuity to produce the most elaborate designs in this method. It is essentially a job of carpentry.

FIG. 17—APRICOTS IN U-FORM

We come now to the cordons. If we take the simplest form, namely the upright cordon, we have what we may call a tree of one dimension only. The upright cordon has nothing but height, eschewing both breadth and thickness. A cordon is simply a tree trained to a single stem and this stem may be placed in any position. The position or direction of the stem classifies the cordon. There are, therefore, besides the upright cordon, others which are oblique, that is, which make an angle with the horizontal, those which are horizontal, and those which are bent into various forms. The serpent form is one of the simplest of these. This form of cordon is simply bent back and forth against a trellis forming a series of S's one above another. The horizontal cordons are of two varieties, namely one-arm and two-arm forms. It is altogether a matter of convenience which one of these forms is chosen.

FIG. 18—PEAR IN ESPALIER

This tree is carrying over 200 fruits

In conclusion it may be pointed out that the slower growing trees, pears and apples, are the better suited to the more elaborate forms of training. The more free and rapid growing species, such as peaches, nectarines, cherries, and Japanese plums, are better managed in somewhat simpler forms, preferably the fan. Such trees do well, however, in the U-form or double U-form.

FIG. 19—OLD ESPALIER PEARS ON FARM HOUSE WALL

VI

GENERAL MANAGEMENT

The general management of dwarf trees is naturally very much like the management of ordinary standard trees. As dwarf trees are grown more often in gardens rather than in orchards they will receive garden treatment. Heavy tools and extensive methods of culture will hardly find application.

Good soil culture may be regarded as essential. Whatever some American fruit growers may be saying about the propriety of growing apple orchards in sod, no one has yet undertaken to adapt the sod system into the kitchen garden. The close planting which is customary with dwarf trees makes culture comparatively difficult, yet not unreasonably so. Apple and pear trees planted six feet apart each way can be worked for several years with a single horse and cultivator. In fact if the trees are kept carefully headed in, the time need never come when the cultivator will have to be abandoned. When cordons or espaliers are planted in a garden large enough to warrant horse cultivation under ordinary circumstances then the rows of trained trees should be set six feet apart, which will be enough to permit the continued use of the horse and cultivator between the rows.

FIG. 20—HORIZONTAL CORDON APPLE AND OTHER DWARF TREES

With cover crop of hairy vetch

However, the horse cultivator is certain to be definitely crowded out of some dwarf fruit gardens. Many of the men who have greatest reason for growing dwarf fruit trees are those whose backyard gardens were never large enough to justify the presence of a horse or horse tools. In such cases the spading fork and the hand cultivator are the ready and proper substitutes. Our extensive methods of farming in America have bred a strong prejudice against all sorts of hand labor like this, but experience will show that under some conditions it is quite worth while. A very common mistake in all kinds of agriculture is to allow prejudice to rule experience.

FIG. 21—DESIGN FOR A BACK YARD FRUIT GARDEN 50 FT. SQUARE

North fence (top of map), peach espalier (4); Row 1, bush apple (7); Row 2, pyramid pear (7); Row 3, currants and gooseberries (11); Row 4 and 5, horizontal cordon apples, with grass walk between; Row 6, raspberry bushes (7); Row 7, strawberries; Row 8, plums in bush form (7); Row 9, apples in horizontal cordons (4); East fence, apples as upright cordons (31); West fence, pears in espalier.

Garden culture means not only good tillage of the soil, but good treatment in other respects. It means good feeding and good spraying. As for spraying we need make only two observations. First, the treatment to be given is almost precisely the same as that which is given to standard trees of the same species; second, the work is much more easily performed because the trees are smaller. If one happens to have a considerable block of dwarf trees closely planted. There may be difficulty, it is true, in driving in with a spray pump. This difficulty is overcome by having long runs of hose on the spray pump, so that the cart may stand on the borders of the garden while the operator carries the nozzle in among the trees. In case of large plantings of dwarf trees alley-ways should be left every one hundred feet, or better, every eighty feet, between the blocks. These alleys will be useful for other purposes besides spraying.

FIG. 22—DWARF FRUIT GARDEN 111 BY 144 FEET

From Lucas' Handbuch des Obstbaues

In the management of a small garden the gardener is expected to be liberal in his allowance of fertilizers. While it is true that dwarf fruit trees should be liberally fed there is a possibility of overdoing it. It has already been explained that the dwarfing of the tree depends in a certain way on its well-regulated starvation. If the tree top could get all the food which its nature calls for it would not be dwarfed. The rule in feeding dwarf fruit trees therefore should be to give enough fertilizer to keep them in perfect health and in good growing condition, but not enough to force unnecessary growth. Fertilizer rich in nitrogen should be especially avoided, and, as the object in view is to secure an early maturity of the tree and to produce fruit always in preference to wood, a larger proportion of potash would naturally be substituted for the diminished proportion of nitrogen. Of course the amounts and proportions of the different elements (nitrogen, potash and phosphoric acid) to be applied will vary greatly with different conditions,—with the nature of the soil, the age of the trees, etc. As a sort of standard we may say that under normal conditions of good soil with dwarf apple and pear trees in bearing there should be given annually for each acre:

400 pounds ground bone
400 pounds muriate of potash
100 pounds Peruvian guano

Peaches and plums require more nitrogen during early growth, and more potash when in full bearing. For a new plantation of these trees the following amounts should be given annually for each acre:

300 pounds ground bone
400 pounds muriate of potash
150 pounds nitrate of soda

For peach and plum trees in bearing, the following formula may be suggested:

400 pounds ground bone
500 pounds muriate of potash
100 pounds Peruvian guano

Inasmuch as many owners of dwarf fruit trees will have so much less than an acre for treatment it will be best to repeat these formulas, reducing them to a smaller unit. Making this reduction somewhat freely, in order to avoid long and useless decimals, we may compute the quantity needed annually for each one hundred square feet of land as follows:

FOR APPLES AND PEARS IN BEARING

1 pound ground bone
1 pound muriate of potash
¼ pound Peruvian guano

FOR PEACHES AND PLUMS NEWLY PLANTED

¾ pound ground bone
1 pound muriate of potash
⅜ pound nitrate of soda

FOR PEACHES AND PLUMS IN BEARING

¼ pound Peruvian guano
1¼ pound muriate of potash
1 pound ground bone

Cherries should be treated like plums; gooseberries, currants, and most other fruits, like apples.

In the home of dwarf tree culture, that is, in Europe, trained trees are extensively grown upon walls. The gardeners utilize for this purpose not only the walls of stables and outbuildings, and of the enclosed gardens, but long ranges of brick are built for the special and exclusive purpose of accommodating fruit trees. In southern Germany, in Switzerland, in Belgium, in France, and especially in the neighborhood of Paris, there are hundreds of miles of these walls. The walls may run north and south or east and west. Both sides of the walls are used, even when one side faces the north. Currants and gooseberries are expected to thrive on north walls. West walls are considered especially favorable for pears and plums. The walls are nearly always built of brick. They should have a height of ten to fourteen feet. Each wall usually has a coping at the top with a projection of ten to eighteen inches, which sheds the rain, protecting both the wall and the fruit trees. Where extreme pains are spent on the culture of fancy table fruits there are curtains hung from rods along the outer edge of these copings, and the curtains are drawn to protect ripening fruit from too hot sunshine, or to protect the blossoms in the spring season from late frosts.

Brick walls, with all their appurtenances, are less important in America than in Europe and the advantages to be expected from this particular method of culture are decidedly less. Walls would more probably be useful for peaches and nectarines in northern latitudes than for any other fruits.

Cordons and espaliers require some sort of support, however, and where walls are not used trellises are necessary. These may be of wood or wire. There is a belief current that the wooden trellises are better because they reflect less heat, but wire is so much cheaper and more durable that it will usually be chosen.

Five or six wires are needed to make a good trellis for upright cordons. These should be placed twelve to fourteen inches apart, with the lowest wire thirty inches from the ground. All wires should be tight, and to this end stout, well-set posts are necessary. The wires should be loosened in the autumn, before freezing weather begins, and should be tightened again in the spring.

FIG. 23—FRUIT GARDENING AND LANDSCAPE GARDENING COMBINED

From Lucas' Handbuch des Obstbaues

The entire planting, exclusive of the borders, is made up of fruit trees and bushes. Dimensions, 752 × 1,362 feet.

For espaliers the woven wire fences are better. In fact, the woven wire fencing is excellent for all sorts of fruit trellises. Poultry netting makes a cheap and convenient trellis, but it is neither so strong nor so durable as the better grades of woven wire fencing. On the whole it is very poor economy to buy a cheap trellis or to put it up on poor posts.

These trellises will need to be comparatively high. Nothing less than eight feet will be satisfactory, and for upright cordons a trellis ten to fifteen feet high will be much better. Of course, this entire height is not needed the first year, but upright cordon apples will cover a twelve foot trellis in five years. Peaches or Japanese plums will cover the same trellis in three years.

In the selection of varieties for growing in a garden of dwarf fruit trees the horticulturist will naturally be guided by principles altogether different from those which control him in the selection of varieties for a commercial orchard. He must, of course, consider which varieties are best adapted to the special stocks on which they have to be propagated. He must also bear in mind that certain varieties are better adapted than others for the special forms in which he may wish to train his dwarf trees. Beyond all this lies the great consideration that in the very large majority of cases dwarf fruit trees are grown to secure fancy fruit, not to produce a large quantity for a general market. All varieties of inferior quality would therefore be eliminated from consideration at the beginning, no matter how productive they might be, nor how famous for other things.

FIG. 24—A FRUIT GARDEN CONTAINING MANY DWARF TREES

A is the entrance; B, well or cistern; C, space to turn a horse and cart.

From P. Barry's "Fruit Garden">[

Varieties of specially good flavor would be given special thought, even though they might lack in hardiness or productivity. The special favorites of the man who owns the garden should be chosen, no matter whether they are popular or not. Then for similar reasons a comparatively long list of varieties will be chosen instead of the very short list always held to by the commercial grower. From first to last one should remember that the growing of dwarf fruit trees is essentially the enterprise of an amateur, not of a man who grows fruit for money.

VII

DWARF APPLES

Dwarf apples are the most interesting and valuable of dwarf fruits. We have become so thoroughly accustomed to the standard apple tree in this country, however, and it so fully meets all the apparent requirements, that there seems to be no call for dwarf apples. Nevertheless dwarf trees have some real advantages under certain circumstances. Some of these have already been pointed out in the general discussion in previous chapters, and some of them will bear reiteration here. Where so much interest is taken in apple culture as in America, the advantage which dwarf trees offer for the rapid testing of new varieties cannot be overlooked. Still more important is the value of the dwarf trees in producing extra fancy specimens. Thus in growing very fine apples for exhibition or for a particularly fastidious market, one would naturally choose the dwarf trees.

Inasmuch as dwarf trees are recommended chiefly to the amateur and are grown generally less for cash profit than for other considerations, the great and obvious advantages of standard trees quickly disappear. For men who like to play at fruit growing, nothing can equal a selection of apple trees on Paradise stocks. They are the most engaging of all dwarf trees, in fact of all fruit trees whatsoever.

The general matter of selecting stocks has been referred to under the head of propagation, but the statement should be repeated here that the French Paradise stock is preferable for very dwarf garden trees, and is almost necessary for cordons and espaliers, while the Doucin (sometimes called the English or broad-leaved Paradise) may be chosen where only a moderate amount of dwarfing is desired. Some of the most expert apple growers of North America are beginning to think that the Doucin may be required for the commercial orchards in the future, when spraying for the San José scale becomes an established routine and smaller trees are an accepted necessity.

Dwarf apple trees may be cultivated in nearly all the artificial forms ever given to fruit trees. Undoubtedly the simplest is the bush or vase form. This requires less care and attention and probably gives as much fruit to the same area as any other. The pyramid form is somewhat difficult to produce. It can be secured successfully only with the varieties which have a tendency to grow strong, straight branches, as for instance Sutton, Gravenstein and Northern Spy. On the whole the pyramid is not to be recommended for dwarf apples.

Apples succeed very well as upright cordons and in all the simpler modifications of this form. As these trees can be planted very close together—as close as fifteen inches certainly—thus occupying very little room, a large number of them can be planted in very limited areas of the city lot or backyard. They are especially adapted to stand on the property line where they seem to use no space whatever, and where in fact they do occupy space which otherwise would be lost. The upright cordon can be bent into the form of an arch in order to make delightful arbors along the walks. The illustration, Fig. 2, shows a good example of this sort.

FIG. 25—DWARF APPLES ON PROF. L. H. BAILEY'S FARM, NEW YORK

Nearly all varieties of apples—indeed all as far as I know—succeed in this form. The trees are not very long-lived, however. That is they cannot be maintained in good presentable form and prolific bearing indefinitely, because it is difficult to reproduce the fruit spurs on the lower part of the stem. Nevertheless the trees are inexpensive and can be cheaply replaced. As they come into bearing the first or second year after planting, this task of replacing worn-out trees is a small one. Very fine specimens of fruit can be produced on these upright cordons. Indeed this form is superior to the bush form in this respect.

The apple is the best of all trees for horizontal cordons. In this form it becomes the most entertaining plaything in the garden, as well as one of the most rewarding trees in its product of fruit. Either the single arm or the double arm cordon can be used with success. These horizontal cordons are naturally used along the borders of walks, flower beds or plots devoted to vegetables. They may sometimes be used along foundations of buildings, where it is not desired to grow upright cordons or espaliers against the walls. The fruit produced by horizontal cordons is probably superior in size, color and finish to that produced on any other form of tree. In climates where the summer's heat and sunshine are apt to be meager, this advantage of the horizontal cordon will be comparatively greater. Conversely it will be less in places where sunshine and heat are very abundant during the summer. It is probably true that on the plains of Arizona and Texas the horizontal cordon will not be a brilliant success.

Dwarf apples need practically the same care and cultivation, aside from pruning, as standard apples. The soil should be cultivated during the early part of the summer and allowed to rest during the latter part of the year. Cover crops may be sown during June or July, according to the custom practised in the usual orchard management; but the advantages of a cover crop in a small garden are less material than in a large commercial orchard.

FIG. 26—UPRIGHT CORDON APPLES

18 inches apart; in author's garden

The formation of the tree is discussed under another head. It remains to be said only that careful and intelligent pruning are required to keep any dwarf apple tree to its work. The more complicated and the more restricted the form of the tree, the more careful and continuous must be this pruning. The general system may be outlined in comparatively few words, and may be explained in its simplest form as applied to the treatment of a horizontal cordon. Each horizontal cordon, perfectly formed and full grown, should have fruit spurs throughout its horizontal length, which may be from three to fifteen feet. The upright portion of the trunk, from the point where the graft is set to the angle made by the bending down of the stem, should be kept clean and bare. Constant care is required to remove the sprouts from this portion of the tree, especially such as come up from the stock. At the further end of the horizontal portion there should be one, two, or three strong shoots allowed to push forth each year. These may be called leaders. They represent the principal wood growth in each tree. They draw up the sap from the roots, their leaves elaborate this sap, and from them the digested material is sent back for the support of the tree and the ripening of the fruit. They are allowed to take an upright or nearly upright position and their growth is encouraged. On all other portions of the tree growth is sternly restricted, when not altogether repressed.

There is a constant tendency for strong shoots to start into growth all along the horizontal part of the stem and especially near the bend. If any of these shoots are allowed to make headway, the form of the tree is spoiled. Even if they are cut out after a year's growth, thus retaining somewhat the form of the tree, the fruit spurs are thereby lost. It is the business of the fruit grower, therefore, to pinch back these shoots which start along the horizontal stem, and this pinching is done at a comparatively early stage of their growth. Usually the first pinching should be given when the stems have grown long enough so as to have seven or eight leaves. These shoots are then cut or pinched back to three leaves. If the tree is in good vigorous condition, these shoots will soon start into growth once more. Again they have to be pinched. This time the pinching comes a little earlier, taking the shoot when it reaches only about five leaves and the pinching is still more severe. The shoots may start into growth a third time or even a fourth time, but each time they are pinched back sooner and more severely than before. In most cases two or three pinchings will suffice. These constant repressions of growth tend to secure the formation of fruit spurs and fruit buds along the horizontal trunk of the tree.

Some slight modifications of the plan here outlined will develop themselves in experience. In particular it will be found that different varieties require slightly different handling. Some form fruit spurs more readily than others. With certain varieties it is very difficult to repress the rampant habit of growth and to secure a proper formation of fruit buds. These differences, however, are of minor importance as compared with the general management of the tree.

The system just outlined has in view the summer pruning of the horizontal cordon apple. The upright cordon is pruned in almost exactly the same manner. Various forms of espaliers are handled in much the same way. Strong shoots or leaders are allowed to grow at the ends of the main branches to keep up a proper circulation and elaboration of sap, while the growth of fruit spurs is encouraged along the sides of the stems by frequent and regular pruning.

In a somewhat less precise manner the same system of pruning can be applied to bush and pyramid forms. Each bush, for instance, is made up of a certain number of fruiting branches. The fruit is borne on spurs on the sides of these branches, while the woody growth is made by the leaders appearing at the ends of these branches. These leaders are annually cut back and the constant formation of fruit spurs is encouraged by pinching whatever shoots are on the sides of the main stems.

It will be seen that the whole business of pruning falls into two general categories, viz., winter pruning and summer pruning. The winter or spring pruning is given any time after the stress of winter is over and before the sap starts running in the spring. This is the time when the ordinary fruit trees are customarily pruned. The work at this season consists chiefly in cutting back leaders. These are pruned off short, that is the whole stem is taken off down to within two or three buds of where it started growth the previous year. In some cases it is worth while to cut even further back, going into wood two or three years old. At this spring pruning the defective or diseased branches are of course removed wherever they are found. Cases requiring such treatment always occur even on the best trained cordons and espaliers. Whenever it becomes necessary an entire branch, sometimes composing half the tree, is taken out. Usually such branches can be replaced without great loss of time.

FIG. 27—HORIZONTAL CORDON APPLE TREES

After this winter or spring pruning comes the summer pruning which has been outlined above. This usually begins May 15-25, and continues until July 25-31, differing, of course, in different latitudes.

Practically all varieties of apples can be grown as dwarfs, though some succeed on Paradise roots better than others. Some varieties also are better adapted for special forms, as for cordons, than are others. Such requirements are not very strict, and a careful gardener can grow practically anything he wants to. Patrick Barry, in his "Fruit Garden," recommends "twenty very large and beautiful sorts for dwarfs," having in mind American conditions, and especially his own experience in Rochester, N. Y. His list is as follows:

In Europe, where greater attention has been paid to these matters, the opinion has settled down to a comparatively limited number. For example, Mr. George Bunyard in "The Fruit Garden" recommends the following varieties for cordons:

The same authority recommends the following varieties to be grown on Paradise stocks as bushes:

Max Loebener in his book on dwarf fruits recommends the following varieties for dwarf apples:

Inasmuch as the advantages of the dwarf trees apply especially to the growing of fine fruit, only the better varieties should generally be propagated in this way. On this basis, therefore, rather than on the basis of adaptation learned from experience, the following varieties may be suggested among the well known American sorts for growing in dwarf form:

Of course, one propagating dwarf apples would always select his own favorites. It should be noticed that in the list given above are some varieties which are notable for beauty of appearance rather than for superior quality. They are recommended on the former consideration. Certain varieties in the list, for instance Alexander, are known to succeed especially well as dwarfs.