When it was first recommended to plant them so deep that the point of junction of the graft, or bud and stock, should be beneath the surface of the ground, I conceived the plan to be a good one, and did not hesitate to put it in practice myself, or to advise my friends and customers to do so; after a trial of some five years I regret to be compelled to say my experience falls far behind my anticipations of the benefit I expected to witness.

Without any equivocation or mental reservation I now denounce and henceforth abandon the practice; and it is for the benefit of those whom I may by my advice have led astray, as well as others who may not have had any experience in the line of planting, that I now give and record the result of my own.

One half or more of all the trees I have thus planted, in from one to three years, have rotted off at the point where the bud was inserted; this is particularly the case with all those that are slow growers on the quince stock.

Nor is this all; I have killed a few which had been planted in the ordinary manner, by heaping the earth up around the trunk, and all by rotting as above mentioned.

There are a few varieties which have succeeded and grow very well, but they are the hardy vigorous varieties, such as Louise Bonne de Jersey, Rostiezer, Duchess D'Angouleme, etc, which you know will grow almost any way.

Those that have thus far lived do not appear to grow any more vigorously than do those which were planted at the depth they grew in the nursery, and if there is any difference it is in favor of the latter.

All that I can say in favor of the practice, is, that it hides the ugly appearance in those cases when the tree outgrows the stock; a very small matter, when brought alongside of the loss of a large portion of the trees planted, as my experience testifies.

I hope others may have had better success than your humble servant; wore it necessary I could give you the similar experience of some others, but prefer to hear from those having had longer and more extensive trials, in other sections of country. - J. Van Buren, Garksville, Ga.