The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1900-08-16
TRICKS PLAYED ON TREES
PLANTS OWAReEo AND CHANGED
CONTRARY TO THEIR KIND.

They might, for instance, consider that
the tree doctor means well. but pretty
often contrives TO dissemble his love,
Some of his operations are certainly
painful and others eccentric. but the
patients are. nevertheless. bound to
submit to them. Bound indeed
they frequently are, root and branch
and If their behavior in such Il trying
situation Is not always exactly that
anticipated by their taskmasters, IL
must be admitted that the trees occa-
slOnally endeaVor to do the best under
trying circumstances. But TO drop the
metaphor For some little time the
famous "dwarfed" forest trees of
Japan have been bidding for western
popularity, and their exhibition and
sale is now of almost annual occur
renee They are more or less perfect
resemblances of timber trees. grown
in pots, with gnarled trunks and
branches and leaves to match. and
fully justifying to the eye their claim
to growth. The once famous show
man, Mr.. Vufiin. declared as the re-
suit of his varied experience. that "the
OlupT II uNdIl IL, lut Dtlltl WOIln III
is; greay-headed dwarf. well wrin-
l;led is beyond all suspicion" In the
production Of their dwarfed trees the
willy Orientals seem TO acknowledge
the same principle. The unfortunate
tree-dwarf must not only be old, but
must look its age. 1t must have wrin-
kles and crows feet. 1t must have
is II dwarf, indeed. and the better
worth owning and exhibiting.
Although the great number of the
dwarfed trees come from Japan, the
Japanese owe the secret of their pro-
ducton to the Chinese. 1t Is the very
button of excellence in the cap of II
Celestial gardener to be an adept in
the art of cOnquerlng nature, and the
practice of making "Koo Shoe 0ree
dwarfs) may possibly date from the
time of Confucius. Various members
of the confer" family are the favor
ite subjects of distortion, though they
are by no means the only tribe sub
mitted to it. Long experience has
doubtless suggested more than one
method of producing the desired end
but the Chinese system may perhaps
be taken as type of all. The prac
| titioner selects IA small branch of II
! healthy growing tree. which promises
| we'll for the operation. Just below
| an "cye" in the young wood IA ring
| of bark is eXcised, and the wound i'm
| mediately surrounded with n ball of
compost, held in position by a suitable
| envelope. This begins to send out
| little rootlets in search of nourish-
mont. Being in every way encour-
aged to make the best of its new situ-
alton, it presently declares It's com
| plete independence of the parent stock,
from which it Is then severed. Now
begins the more personal struggle with
untoward fate. Still attended by its
ball of earth, it is cramped into II
small pot, and just kept alive by II
sparing allowance of water. 1t can
not flourish and it must not die: those
are the terms on which the artist deals
with his captive, and between which
1t has to find its own level. But the
dungeon alone is not sufficient; the
torturer is called in to assist. As
soon as the victim has established II
Kind of torpid existence. its stem and off
shoots are in various places" "clamped"
with wire fetters, in order to promote
the rugged appearance so necessary
to its future prospects as dwarf of
venerable age. At this stage, also, the
roots are closely scanned, and when
necessary are trimmed, or even scared
with hot iron. Many deaths occur
Just then, but such subjects as sur
| vlye the treatment gradually begin to
show its effects. With lessened leaves
ana cramped branches they grow into
more or less perfect rescmblances of
forest veterans. To confer Il kind Of
''worm-eaten' antiquity, the branches
are occasionally smeared with honey
to invite the attacks of insects The
plants natural instinct is sometimes
not fully overcome for ten, or even
twenty years. But it eventually sub
sides into the state of dwarfdom, n
barely living example OF what mans
perverted ingenuity can effect.
As one of the many tricks played
upon trees, grating stands perhaps
Only next 10 uWHTlHS. II must, now
ever at once he admitted that the
former process has been of the most
benefcent service TO mankind, The
Romans. who had Il wonderful love
of gardening perhaps it was the nat
| ural antithesis of the warlke element
knew everything that was then tC
be known in relation to grating an(
budding" But we are confronted by
| Nlrgl's rather startling assertion thai
any scion may he grated on any
stock He speaks of apples growing
on "A pear, and even u plane, tree; O
cherries on II plum. and of pears OF
IA wild ash. Now, il is the common
experience of the moderns that M
graft viii succeed unless II he upon
n stock which bears fruit of the sam,
| kind We must not. however, he to'
4 ready 10 charge the poet with having
g exceeded the bounds of his license.
q for pliny tells us of famous tre
4 in the garden of Lucullus which bor
e II half dozen different kinds of fruit
+ Instances OF this kind, indeed, nigh