t
right at the point of union and died the second year.
Mr. McDaniel: What was that combination?
Mr. Hirschi: That was _mollissima_ stock.
Now, speaking about the varieties--this is in Oklahoma--I have tried
practically all the older varieties and I have tried some Abundance
grafts this last year. I have some Abundance grafts that are two years
old that are producing. They have the most vigorous growth of anything,
and in our climate we have to have vigor.
I grafted a lot of the Abundance scions on Hobson seedlings. I started
out to grow an orchard from Hobson seedlings, and I found out that out
of 50 splice grafts of Abundance that I put in Hobson seedlings in 1948,
forty-eight grew, and they were put on rather late, in April. That's a
little late for us. I have the idea--I don't know whether I am right or
not--that if the Abundance proves out as our best variety, we can grow
seed for stock of the Abundance and then graft the Abundance back on the
seedling from Abundance. If there is so much to this incompatibility, I
should overcome it by doing that very thing.
Personally I think it is a crime that thousands of trees--almost
millions--are being put out by nurserymen as seedling trees, and if you
will note in their price lists they have "6 to 12 inches" and "12 to 18
inches", "2 to 3 feet" and "3 to 4 feet." I venture to say that those
are probably all the same age. How would you like to plant some of those
12-inch trees? Somebody is going to get hurt!
Mr. Bush: I'd like to say that you can propagate the Chinese chestnut by
layering if you want to, and that will put it on its own. Put a wedge on
it or girdle it and keep it damp through the summer.
Pres. Davidson: I think Dr. MacDaniels' question is still not answered.
I do think that if a nurseryman sells a seedling he ought to definitely
_say that it is a seedling_ and not merely that it is a
"blight-resistant chestnut," or something of that sort. He should
actually tell the public what he is selling.
Now, then, there seem to be reasons why in some instances a man is
justified in planting seedlings when it comes to Chinese chestnuts, but
when it comes to the black walnut or filbert or some of these other
things, they are still selling seedlings without labelling them as such.
I think we should be on record against that practice, because it takes
us five or six years, or ten years sometimes, to find out that we have
been gypped, and it is so easy to gy
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