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Show Future Apple Trees Will Grow From Own Roots Washington. Apple trees of the future, breaking precedent with apple ap-ple trees of today, may grow on their own roots, experiments conducted con-ducted by United States Department of Agriculture scientists indicate. Government experimenters have succeeded in inducing stem cuttings of desirable varieties of apples to send out roots, Dr. F. E. Gardner, in charge of nursery stock investigation investi-gation for the bureau of plant industry, indus-try, reports. In the past the apple tree has been an assembled article with the fruit-producing part grafted on to a common root-stock such as the French crab variety. This was necessary because seedlings do not produce true to variety and because cuttings of stem tissues would not take root. Springtime taping of the growing root with black tape right up to the growing tip or enclosing the shoot in a black tube so changes the shoot that it will take root when removed from the tree in the fall. It is only necessary to make the basal cut, Doctor Gardner declares, before planting. |