The Glenwood post., 1906-03-31
TOP GRATING
APPLE TREES
The Best Method Of Growing Long
Lived TreeS--VdIuabIe Treatise
by W. 5. Coburn, State
Board of Horticulture
VERY SPECIFIC INFORMATION GIVEN

This method is confined to the ap-
pie and the pear tree. You will see
its advantages over the old way of
planting the original tree of the
variety desired. We all know that
apple trees are not of the same hardi-
ness. thrifty growers and long lived.
We will take for instance three of the
kinds most in demand for com
mercial purposes and largely grown
especially on the western slope of this
this state; the Jonathan, Winesap,
and Rome Beauty, the Jonathan ID
only considered half hardy, but one
of the best early winter varieties
grown, and in great demand for
Christmas and New Years, The tree
while young seems to be fair grower
and yields large crops of good sized
apples, but at the age of fifteen to
twenty years we find many failing
The tree stops growing. the foliage
become small and often light oolored,
the fruit while the tree is full also
stops growing and very little of it
will get to marketable size. Close
examination fails to reveal any dis
ease, and the conclusion arrived at is
that it. like some of the human family
is short lived. For that reason would
not plant the Jonathan tree.
The Rome Beauty tree is the next
| ruil1 FOL ,,n1or
the fruit of which is of large size, fine
appearance, good quality and it's sea
son is the last of February and March
under the ordinary way of keeping
apples, but when put into cold storage
comes out in April and May in fine
shape. The tree when first set is an
upright rank grower, in fact it grows
so thrifty that unless precautionary
measures are taken to stop its growth
and ripen up the wood, the trunk will
often crack open from the limbs to
the ground killing the tree We have
often seen as many as ten acres OF
this variety dying off every winter
until at the end of five years there
were none left. For this reason we
would not plant Rome Beauty tree.
The next under consideration is the
Winesap. an apple of rather medium
size. best quality, long keeper and
greatly in demand. 1t is generally
understood by all fruit growers that
to grow the Winesap successfully it
must be planted on very rich deep soil
for best results as the apple is natur-
ally rather understood. We will ask
the average planter il he has ever
noticed the Wlnesap trees as they
came from the nursery ready to plant
in the orchard. 1t is one of the poor
est growing trees in the nursery,
sprawling limbs, one sided and the
poorest rooted; three or four main
roots often growing all on one side
with few 6brous or lateral roots. For
this reason its capacity for gathering
the fertilizing qualities of the sur
rounding soil is limited and when the
tree gets to be fifteen or twenty years
old unless severely pruned and tbinned
out, the fruit will be too small for
market. For this reason it behooves
us to seek remedy and the only
remedy that we have been able to
prescribe is to top graft on the thrift
lest growing tree.
Top grating has been practiced for
hundreds Of years and very little i'm
provement has been made on the old
style of splitting the stock. which is
a very bungling and unsatisfactory
way, and unreliable. Having planted
a large variety in new country
where fruit growing was an expert
ment and all kinds grew and manured
to perfection, naturally wanted to
grow few of the best commercial
varieties, hence the necessity for
either digging up and planting again
or top graft the Objectionable ones.
The planting Of young trees among
those from ten to twelve years old
makes the orchard present ragged.
uneven appearance, hence my decision
to top graft. We nave grated sum
mer, fall, and winter varieties. red
and yellow, sweet and sour, to the
Jonathan, Winesap and Rome Beauty
with the same success. hence for the
reasons given in the foregoing would
advocate planting the hardest, rankest
growing, best rooted trees that could
be bad and letting them grow three
years in the orchard when the root
system will become we'll established
and then to graft to such varieties as
the market in your locality demands.