208 TKANSACTIONS OF THE ILLINOIS 



Creator made a mistake in having leaves grow on the north side of a 

 tree. 



[Mr. Meehan said light, not sun's rays.] 



Mr. Barry — Speaking of the ground being frozen, you say that the 

 tree would grow having the roots all frozen. Is that your state- 

 ment ? 



Mr. Meehan — Yes, sir ; that is my statement. 



Mr. Barry — 1 could hardly agree with you there. I think our 

 trees would make very poor progress if the roots were frozen all 

 summer. You know the trouble we have to get bottom heat. We 

 all believe that a certain amount of bottom heat is necessary as well 

 as top heat; otherwise we should expect the tree to fail. The 

 instance of the grape-vine would hardly answer for an illustration ; 

 but even they are found to bear much better when the borders are 

 warm. They cover them and they heat them in England, so that I 

 think your statement would bear modification. 



Mr. Meehan — Yes, I know that English grape-growers do take 

 pains to keep the heat in their borders. My statement was that 

 people frequently attributed to wet what ought to be attributed to 

 heat. Keep them warm and tolerably dry. The statement I made 

 was simply an illustration, and I should be quite willing to let it stay 

 where Mr. Barry has left it. 



Mr. Barry — There is another point, which is in regard to main- 

 taining moisture in the soil. Now one of the best ways to keep 

 moisture in the soil is to keep the surface of the ground well stirred 

 — in a finely pulverized condition. I have always found that where 

 the ground was constantly stirred and kept finely pulverized it was 

 moist even in drouth. I am only stating my own experience now, 

 and I would like to hear you explain that point a little further, be- 

 cause I got the impression that I should keep it covered with grass 

 instead of exposing it to the sun, according to your views. 



Mr. Meehan — Your experience agrees with mine partly, and partly 

 not. I get my information from thermometrical experiments. I find 

 that our observation deceives us. I tried particularly with the ther- 



