The Green Forest tribune., 1903-07-11
Orchards On Stumpy Land.

As this is a timber country, and all who plant orchards must nec-
 essarily to a large extent, use stumpy land, the following ex- tracts from an article from the pen of H. M. Stringfellow in the Practical Fruit Grower, will prove of interest to our readers contemplating planting orchards:
 Pickering to recent article by MT. Ernest Walker, of the Arkansas Experiment Station, on the subject of stumpy lands and root-rot, I was greatly surprised at his views as to the relation be- tween them, and must say that 1 think he is mistaken. That he has seen root-rot on such land l do not question, but that it was the result of decaying stumps and roots 1 seriously doubt, as well as the statement that the disease does not occur on prairie land. That there was a time, not very remote, when crown gall root knot and root-rot were practic ally unknown is certain, when fruit trees were grown in perfect health all over the country and necessarily on stumpy land, for practically the whole face of the country was covered originally with forest trees. If, as MT. Walker asserts, rOot-rOt is the re- suit of decaying roots and stumps, how happens 1t was unknown for so many years? Are there not thousands of old fruit trees even now standing that were planted on such land and are yet in per- feet health? As a matter of fact, these root diseases alluded to above were practically unknown until nurserymen began to grow numbers of trees continuously on the same ground. Just why | this will ultimately breed disease is hard to say, but certainly will.
 Now as to root-rot, which MT. Walker alludes to, we find an other and distinct type of tree scrofula. Here in Texas it af- fleets sweet potatoes, cotton and many other plants as we'll as trees, and IS much more general on prairie ground than that cleared of timber. The infection seems to occur very suddenly, and the
 tree or plant wits a few days,
 then the leaves blacken and death occurs. This is the most mys- terious of all diseases, as d cotton plant or tree will live and be healthy while the one next to il will die. The apple and Le Conte pear are particularly subject to this disease here and elsewhere on prairie land, generally dying in eight or ten years, but in the timbered section of east Texas, which IS now attracting the at tention of fruit growers all over the country, rot is practical ly unknown. 1 can't believe that conditions are so different i'll Missouri and Arkansas for if Mr. Walker is right, the vast timbered sections Of those states and the portions recently cleared must be left for the next generation to develop. While a stump can be pulled, greater portion of the
 large roots must remain in the
 ground, which will take years
 before they become soil. There is nothing intrinsically disease
 breeding in the decomposition of healthy plant or tree. All plant food is prepared and set free by the action of humus on the soil, and humus is nothing else than decayed vegetable matter, wheth
 CT it be the leaves of trees, grass, weeds or the stumps and roots of trees. When a boy, my mother used to make me go out into the woods and get the rich mold from beneath decaying stumps and logs for her flower beds and garden trees, which by their growth seemed always. to appreci-
 ate it. As to crown gall and root knot, 1 would advise every
 tree planter to examine the roots of all trees with d magnifying glass when received, and reject all with the sIi O. h agt lznnt Qr craIl