Knoxville journal. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1874-1986, 1875-03-11
Apples and Pears for Orchard
aud Garden.
standards and Dwarfs.--Ex-
perfence, not Theory.

yrnm the Patrons Helper.
In presenting the subject above
indicated, do not propose to theo-
rize or discuss the question on n.y.
pothetical premises on the contrary
so far as my own statements go, they
will rest upon practical experience
Of over thirty years, during all Of
which time have been growing and
experimenting, especially with APP
pies and pears, both as standards and
dwarfs.
am well aware that in approach
ing this subject, / advance upon I'M
settled ground, and will be confront
ed by many persons who have strong
predudices against my views. With
this / shall find no fault, for I admit
at the outset that in DO one thing
has there been more atrocious hum
buggery practiced upon the people
than in the sale of so-called dwarf
pear and dwarf apple trees. BY hun
dreds OF itinerant dealers the impo-
sitions were regular straightforward
performance.
Dwarf trees were usually sold at
80 cents or more each, while STAN
dards only brought IS cents, and it
was therefore only necessary to pre-
fix or affix the word dwarf" to add
one hundred per cent. to the price,
and if person about to become a
purchaser were little incredulous,
a nice picture Of a dwarf tree loaded
to breaking with fine large apples or
pears, as the case might be, settled
the question and satisfied the victim
that there was no hook in the bait.
To the great disadvantage of most
purchasers their lack Of knowledge
IS to the difference between the roots
Of stocks for standard and stocks for
dwarfs, disabled them to detect the
fraud; hence trees of the class de-
scribed are found all over the coun-
try. Times out of number, when
visiting my friends in the country as
well as in towns, / have been accost-
ed with Well, Mr.. Mathews, /
want you to come and look at a
dwarf tree Tor trees) / have in my
garden. ! planted it Tor them, as
the case may be- about twelve years
ago, worked and MANFRED it well.
It is now larger than any tree in my
orchard planted the same year, and
il has never had blossom on yet
And right here l might as we'll
say that, Notwithstanding my gener-
ally acknowledged sedateness and
phlegmatic temperament, / am al
ways constrained to smile, if not to
laugh aloud. 1t is the old song, but
| go and see, of course, and when we
get to the spot then comes the ques-
ton, /" What do you think ails it 2"
swell, | can see nothing the matter,
it's fine thrifty tree you have there
MY friend, and l see nothing wrong
with it, only ii is not q Quart"
/ Of course give him my explana-
ton Of what true dwarf is, but it
comes too late--it don't remedy the
evil. And this is only one case out
Of a thousand, the victims of which
would set their dogs on man who
might offer to sell them dwarf trees.
This is one side, (the: darkest one),
Of the picture, and with such expert
ences all over the country, who can
be surprised that the very name Of
dwarf should be repulsive to such as
have been thus wantonly imposed
upon. Far be it from me to say that
all tree peddlers have been guilty of
impositions such as / have named !;
there are doubtless, honorable ex-
ceptions, but this is no excuse for the
well established fact that thousands
of these fraudulent sales have been
made all over the western country.
But there are two other reasons
which / shall merely mention here,
why dwarf trees have failed TO give
satisfaction.
First, Thousands have died out at
five to seven years of age, and there
fore pear trees have been pronounced
short lived, when on the ounce root,
which is the only one used for
dWarting the pear.
Second, Thousands upon thousands
Of apples are grated or budded upon
Doucin or English Paradise roots,
and called dwarfs when in fact 80 far
as my experience goes, not one vari-
ETY. grated on this stock will come
into bearing any sooner than on the
common apple root. I maintain,
and will endeavor to show conclusive-
ly, that the two last objections can