American Pomology. ApplesWarder, J. A. (John Aston)
Science
American Pomology. Apples
Warder, J. A. (John Aston)
Apples
DWARFING BY UNCONGENIAL STOCKS.--The usual mode, which is literally a
partial starvation of the tree by limiting the supplies of crude sap,
consists in the use of uncongenial and dwarf-growing stocks, upon
which the desired varieties are budded or grafted. These are, for the
dwarfed pear, either Quinces, Thorns, the Mountain Ash, or the
Amelanchiers; for the apple, the Paradise and the Doucin varieties of
apple stocks; for the peach and plum, the Chickasas, or other dwarf
plum stock may be used. The free-growing cherries are worked on the
Mahaleb or the Morello varieties; but it must be confessed, that some
of these do not produce a perfect dwarf without other treatment.
To produce a dwarf by grafting on an uncongenial stock, this should be
so uncongenial as to form an imperfect union, which checks the
downward circulation; the sap that has been elaborated by the organs
of the scion is thus kept above the junction of the two woods, and,
being so checked, the result is the early formation of fruit-buds, and
a premature fruitage of the trees results in a direct proportion to
the incompleteness of the union of scion and stock. This is often so
very imperfect as to be very easily ruptured, the grafts are often
broken out by a very small force being applied to them, sometimes even
the weight of the fruit is sufficient to effect a separation, and an
examination of the rupture will show how very slight or imperfect the
union between the parts has been; in other cases, however, it is
difficult to trace the fibres of wood-growth that belong respectively
to the stock and to the scion, even when these have been so different
as pear and quince, or plum and peach.
It is also considered desirable that the roots of the stock should be
small and fibrous, and not long, naked, and straggling; the former
will furnish the crude sap in more limited amounts, and are less
likely to produce an excessively rampant or luxurious growth in the
scion.
Many persons have been disappointed in the Mahaleb cherry, which has
been reputed to be a dwarfing stock. It is found, that without the
application of other means, the so-called dwarfed cherries grow as
freely, at least in their early years, as those worked on the free
stock, known as the Mazzard cherry. They will never make such large
trees, however, and those who would enjoy dwarf cherry trees, should
combine the different methods of producing the result.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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