Beginners' guide to fruit growing - PDF book by Frank A. Waugh

Beginners' guide to fruit growing a simple statement of the elementary practices of propagation, planting, culture, fertilization, pruni...

Beginners' guide to fruit growing

a simple statement of the elementary practices of propagation, planting, culture, fertilization, pruning, spraying, etc.

Practically, all fruit trees used in gardens or orchards are propagated* by grafting or by budding. This work is usually done by the nurseryman, who sells the trees at an age of one or two years. As a rule, subject only to rare exceptions, this is the best plan. 

The professional nurseryman, with his experience and with suitable soil, can grow better trees and grow them cheaper than can any ordinary farmer, gardener or fruit grower. Nevertheless, there are a good many persons who like to grow their own young trees, even at a slight extra expense, and such persons ought always to have the privilege.

 Every gardener and fruit grower, moreover, ought to understand the processes of budding and grafting, if only for fun or self-protection.

 A few fruits, indeed, may be grown from cuttings, without grafting. These are mostly not tree fruits, but such things as currants, grapes, etc. A few varieties of pears and still fewer plums are successfully grown from cuttings in the far southern states, but these cases hardly form a sufficient exception to prove the rule. Among old orchards a) e a few also planted with seedling (ungrafted) trees. 

In the early days, there was some excuse though rarely an adequate excuse for using these seedlings. Today there is no reason whatever for planting anything but grafted trees anywhere in America that a garden can be made or a farm opened up. 

When grafted or budded trees can be bought at 15 to 35 cents each, now the almost universal range of price, no man can afford to use seedlings.  One of the commonest ways of propagating nursery trees is by root-grafting. As this applies principally to the apple, it may be described as practised with that fruit. The apple stocks are grown from seeds saved from the cider mills. These seeds come largely from the New England states, especially Vermont and New Hampshire. The stocks are largely grown in a few restricted localities. 

At one year old these seedlings are dug, graded and sold to the nurserymen, who use them both in budding and grafting. Considerable quantities of similar seedling stocks are now being imported annually from France. These are known simply as French stocks, but they are not 'essentially different from the American stocks.

the book details :

Author: Frank A. Waugh

Publication date: 1913

Company: New York: Orange Judd company

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