The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1906-04-06

water and sand poured IN, then packed
down hard around the root. The
white mark shows how far into the
ground they were set. These trees did
not receive the care they should have
had, and they grew slowly at first
have dug up quite number of them
to see what they were doing, and in
every case thus far they have started
like those in the picture. Their first
effort seems to be series of tap-roots,
which dig straight down into the
ground. The bottom of the root I'M
der favorable conditions forms a. cal
lus and then sends, out roots Just
about like a currant cutting. AS will
be seen, in the picture these roots go
down. have traced them until T
feel sure they reached nearly or quite
to the water level I take it that
the chief object of this deep-rooted
system is to supply water to the tree.
That. seems to explain why such trees
are better able to stand drought or
lack Of cultivation than trees with
most of the roots close to the surface.
I am led by the appearance of these
trees to argue that If a man expects
to succeedswith sod or mulch culture,
he shoulds start with rdot-pruned
trees, and, if possible, get this tap
rooted system.
have dug dp go & l; trees q; and
have spent much time in orchards
where dead trees are being pulled out.
These trees were all planted in
large holes, with long roots left on
them, and some pains taken to spread
these roots out without cramping them.
In such orchards I have never yet
found tree rooted as mine are. With
the large hole and long roots rarely
find tree with any useful roots much
below two feet from the surface. On
my root-pruned trees the tap-roots are
often six feet or more under ground.
OF course we all understand that the
best feeding roots Of the tree are in
the upper foot or Is inches. The fact
that under this system these upper
feeding roots are slow to start seems
to account for the slow growth of
these trees for the first year or two.
Later, after. the tap or what I call
water roots" are we'll fixed, the
small feeding roots come out from be-
low the crown of the tree, and growth
comes rapidly.
This is the result Of planting in a
crowb2r hole. I do not practice it
now, but make large hole, and leave
on more side root.
Why? If this is a good thing why
give it up?
I do not give up the principle, but
modify it. The crowbar hole is so
small that you can never be sure that
the air is kept away from the lower
end of the root. 1t is absolutely neces-
sary to have this part of the hole
packed tight-otherwise the root will
not form a callus and will rot or dry
out. Again, where no side roots are
left, the tree as it forms head and
stops the wind will whirl about in the
hole, form large opening at the top,
and often fall over. 1t is possible
to stake the little tree and hold it firm
~, but think it better to leave
short stubs at the side of the roots,
pruning them from the under side. We
then: dig hole just large enough to
hold the roots without cramping, and
pound and pack the earth solidly
around the roots. In this way we do
not get just the root growth shown in
the picture, but we do get, thus far
Eat: least, much deeper start than
where the tree is planted in a large
hole with long roots left on it. Thus
far am unable to see any advantage
in making great hole and leaving on
the roots, and every orchard l sac dug
out stiffens my faith in the root-prun-
ing method. think any man. who
knows much about trees will say that
such: roots as I have pictured are
more likely to bring water in time of
drought than the surface roots which
are found on most trees. This will
explain why compare a root-pruned
tree to clover, and a long-rooted tree
Of timothy. Observe the way these
act in ::'dry time.'' ::s* ~:
+: When q plum Seeding begins to
bear it is unsafe to Judge che value Of