The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-11-10
DWARF FRUIT TREES.
Mode of Culture in Line Much Neg
 lected in the United States


 lected in the United States
 The Country Gentleman.
 In the orchards of the present day in America a good genuine dwarf pear or ap- pie is a curiosity. and there are hundreds of wide awake farmers and fruit men who never saw one in their Ives. The reason for the neglect of the dwarfs is not far to seek They belong distinctively to the European system of horticulture and are quite outside the American sys- tenn. In other words, they belong to the this country we are concerned with fruit only on the large scale. Yet with the present significant increase of interest in suburban affairs, with the present rapid extension of the garden cult among those who work in town and who live at least in the edge of the city. there Is bound to be revival of interest in this really practicable and useful business of dwarf ing trees.
 At the present time the pear is the only fruit grown to any extent in the dwarf form. few growers have orchards or proportions. These are probably most nu- merous in Southern Michigan. Another and more considerable number of pear growers have been planting new orcn- ards of standard trees, with dwarf pears as ''iliers." That is, they use rows or dwarf pear trees between the standards with view of getting several crops from
 
 the standard trees need all the space. Apples are still occasionally grown as dwarfs though we have never heard or a single instance in which they have been planted for commercial purposes Other trees, such as plums. peaches, apricots and cherries. are almost totally unKnowh as dwarf. nation of two processes-propagation and pruning The tree is first propagated on some slow-growing root which tends to
 4- tEeAna it is pruned back severely. and not al. lowed to fill a great space. This secon part-the pruning-is quite essential Wlth many trees, and some ineXper1enced gara ners have earned serious disappointment through It's neglect.
 The first problem, then. is the selection of the dwarfing stock. In the case Of the pear this is nearly aiways @ ,,or !ne gutheT t1a n inc near root and when pear scion IS put on a quince stock it Is simply starVeo or stunted into the dwarf form Tn sin liar way the Paradise apple, which was orisinailv a dwarf wild apple of Europe is used as a dwarfing stock for apples; The plum is usually said to be dwarfed az matter of fact, nearly all plums in tn,s mart of the country are now worked on that stock, vet they are grown s d; standards. In this case 1t Is matter ol nruninE. Such stocks as the sand cherry are much more effective in dwarfing the mum, and it is possible that they VII come into use for this purpose: The a,, cher,, h,t this statement stands just where Stands sEt the one about plums on Myrobolar stocks. A dwarf cherry tree may be made bv budding on Mahaleb roots. ana then by giving severe pruning, but the P5uI' u.,s ing is the greater part of the business The peach may be worked on almost any any species of plum. and the p!'tm s stock nas has a tendency to dwarf the scion. Ihe sAInS nut thing can be done with the apricot. Any of these can be made into dwarfs DS proper cutting back. ~ .,,
 Most persons seem to jump at the con, on, c,,Ieion that when the tree is stunted tnt Sr,,it ia unfavorably affected. If the tree s run made smailer. they think, the fruit fruit would naturally be salleG tltt too i In ssit faHt the reverse is true. The frplI wonld d be im nnsslble to explGln why. this is the case p7 rt a~.. r7.o there ia not space here