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.