430 Agricultural Experiment Station, Ithaca, N. Y. 



The disturbing influence may be ascribed either to the short cut- 

 ting of the roots, or to the bending of the roots when the plants 

 were set into the ground. If one watches the practices of the 

 workman in transplanting seedlings in nurseries, an explanation 

 for these crooked roots may be very easily found, frequently the 

 holes are too shallow to receive the deeper roots of the plants. 

 The plant is therefore pressed into the soil so that the trunk may 

 be set at the desired depth, and many of the roots are more or less 

 seriously bent. If, at the same time, the roots are pressed in a 

 horizontal direction, or if they are bent upon a large curve, this 

 shallow method of planting is not followed by any serious conse- 

 quences. The steady return flow of the nourishing sap should 

 thereby be diverted toward a more free production of side roots,, 

 especially from the main roots which have been but moderately 

 bent; but in case the plant has been pressed into the soil so that 

 the root makes a short and sharp turn, then the flow is so great 

 that an abnormal deposit of material may easil}^ induce the form- 

 ation of root-galls. 



" It is, therefore, just these improved methods of culture, the 

 fertilizing and cultivation of the soil used for nursery purposes, 

 and the methods which nurserymen have of growing seedlings 

 rapidly (because in this manner stronger trees are produced), 

 which bring about the conditions under which the root-gall is 

 found. 



" The experiment should be made of growing stock after it has 

 been pruned in various ways, and with different methods of trans- 

 planting." 



It seems to have been generally assumed that this root-gall is 

 a specific disease and due to some fungous parasite, and upon 

 this assumption various fungicidal dressings of the roots have 

 been advised (see, for example. Bulletin 74). The only actual 

 experiments which I know to have been reported, in this country, 

 are by W. E. Smith, Napa, California, and W. A. Yates, Brenham, 

 Texas. Mr. Smith presented his results before a recent meeting 

 of the Fruit Growers' Convention. I reprint the paper as it was 

 published in the California Fruit Grower (Dec. 15, 1894, p. 481) : 



