Mr. Ludlow:  Do you mulch the ground?

Dr. Huestis:  Well, I dig up the ground a little in the spring.  The roots are very near the surface, not very penetrating, and I cultivate around the roots, but I am careful not to cut them.  Every fall I put a good mulch of leaves and hay around them.  I have been a little fearful they would winter-kill.  I wouldn’t lose one of them for ten dollars, and I think it well to mulch them, leaving a little space at the base.

Mr. Andrews:  Are the roots exposed in some cases?

Dr. Huestis:  Yes, I noticed on two of the older trees, those that have been in eight years and have borne six crops, you can see the roots on one side, the top is exposed a little, and I think it would be well to put a little dirt on those another year.  The stock of these dwarf trees is slow growing with a rapid growing top, and that is what dwarfs them.  I have transplanted one tree three times, which would make four plantings in eight years, and that tree bore almost as much fruit last year as any of them.  In another case once transplanted I think the tree is better than the others that were left.

[Illustration:  Dwarf Yellow Transparent, bearing 96 apples, third year from planting at Dr. Huestis’.]

As I said before, if I was planting an orchard I would put dwarf trees between, and by the time they had borne three or four crops, and you were expecting a crop of fruit from the standard trees—­about seven years from the time you put them in—­I would put the dwarf trees as fillers, costing about forty cents apiece, and by the time they are bearing nicely your friends would have seen those, and I believe would want them at the time you want to take them out.  I believe I could sell any of mine for three or four dollars apiece.  I think that would be one way of disposing of them after you wanted to take them out of the standard orchard on account of room.  That is just a thought of mine.

When I got my first ones eight years ago I gave one to a man who lives in North Minneapolis, at 1824 Bryant Avenue North.  Any one can see it who lives up in that section.  The first year he had twenty-nine apples, and it has borne each year since.  The one which I have transplanted and which bore last year is a Bismarck.  It is a little better apple, in my mind, than the Duchess.  It is a good deal like the Duchess but is a better keeper and has a better flavor than the Duchess.

[Illustration:  Dwarf Bismarck, fourth year, at Dr. Huestis’]

I would like to read a quotation to show that the dwarf tree is not a late thing.  Recommending dwarf trees for gardens, “Corbett’s English Garden,” published in 1829, says:  “I do hope if any gentleman makes a garden he will never suffer it to be disfigured by the folly of a standard tree, which the more vigorous its growth the more mischievous its growth to the garden.”