I not only took the small branches that she was willing to
sacrifice from her tree but also as many as possible from the branch
which had been torn off, as its terminals were still in a fresh
condition.
I grafted these scions on hybrid plum trees where they took hold
readily, and in 1938, they began to bear prolifically. The apricots,
which I have named Harriet, in honor of my mother, are a fine-flavored
fruit, medium in size. Their cheeks are a mottled red with raised
surfaces. Their pits are well-formed and fairly edible. Although the
parent tree died the winter I took scions from it, my grafts have proved
quite hardy, having received no injury when temperatures as low as 47 deg.
below zero have occurred. Since the parent tree died because its roots
were severely frozen, it would seem that the top of the tree, in this
case, was more hardy than the root system. This does occur sometimes,
although it is unusual.
In developing the factor of hardiness further in this apricot variety, I
have taken advantage of something I had observed about other fruit
trees. When one combines parts of two trees by grafting, it is a simple
thing to select a hardy root stock from the available plants, just as I
selected hardy plum stock on which to graft my apricot scions.
Pages:
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138