This being the season to graft, I thought I'd pass on some advice from Samuel Preston of Stockport, PA:
The Genesee Farmer
Rochester, Saturday, April 21, 1832
Vol. II, No. 16
DWARF FRUIT TREES.
Observing…some queries respecting dwarf fruit trees, this may inform that I have seen a garden bordered with dwarf fruit trees, perhaps none taller than two and a half feet; the tops spreading very wide, and well loaded with apples, pears, and peaches, many touching the ground. The gentleman who planted them being dead, I obtained no account how the dwarfing was effected.
I have since been informed, through a channel worthy of credit, that the mode of making such dwarf trees is very simple and easy. On the limbs of fruit trees there are what I call forked twigs, (fruit spurs,) say two or three inches long, that bear fruit. Take and graft them into a piece of root; put on the wax, and plant it in the garden, and it will grow into a dwarf fruit tree.
I have only tried one experiment, by setting such a forked twig in an apple stock. It grows slowly enough for a dwarf tree and produced apples. I am now too aged, feeble and trembling with the palsy to graft any more.
Respectfully, SAMUEL PRESTON.
Stockport, Pa., March 3, 1832.
Of course we know now that Sam Preston had it wrong. The dwarfing influence comes from the rootstock, not the bud or scion that is grafted to it. In fact, even Mr. Preston’s fruit-growing peers of 1832 would have told him he was wrong. An earlier (March) issue of the Genesee Farmer contains a passage by J.B. of Albany Nursery, which states: “The art of dwarfing trees, consists in grafting or budding the desired fruit, upon dwarf varieties of the same genera.”
But I applaud Sam Preston for distributing information that he felt was worthwhile. These old periodicals relied heavily on reader submissions. In fact, it’s interesting to note how similar they were to today’s internet forums. The information provided was given by people who were learning through doing, despite how feeble and trembling with palsy they may have been.
Although Sam was wrong with respect to fruit spurs, he was on to something. Are you familiar with a witch’s broom? It’s an occasional deformity that typically forms on some woody plants, resulting in a tight cluster of living twigs. These grow from the branch of an otherwise fine looking tree. There are different causes for witch’s brooms, but some are caused by genetic mutations. And many of today's dwarfed specialty spruce or pines are produced by grafting a scion from a witch’s broom onto regular rootstock. You go Sam.