WINTER MEETING. 135 



•«rossed. Then alll had to do was to use a spade or round-pointed shovel and throw 

 out the loose dirt at each cross furrow, and set in the trees. 1 used all one-year-old 

 trees, first-class in every particular, headed them at 15 inches from the ground. 

 They were set on a northeast slope, most of the land very rocky. Out of the 1000 

 trees I think just one tree failed to grow. 



I cultivated the ground in corn, kept it clean of weeds and grass until Sep- 

 tember, then I sowed a few turnip seed through the orchard, which came up and 

 are now growing nicely. 1 will leave these grow all winter to feed the rabbits on 

 in place of feeding on my young trees. I also wash my trees withw hite-washand 

 carbolic acid. They have made a tine growth ; some are now five feet from where 

 I headed them, and as fine a head as one would wish to look at. My pears especially 

 have made a reasonable growth, and not a pear to die. 



Now I want to ask, is it best to cut back any of last year's growth, on apple, 

 pear or plum ? I understand the other all right. 



TREE GROWTH. 



J. C. BENDER, ST. JOSEPH, MO. 



The sap of plants and trees circulates down, and never from the roots up. 



Grafting and budding should be on stocks of same or similar kind, so sap can 

 circulate freely. 



Soil, fertile lands, develop, grow as organs, is alive and is made by plants, 

 trees, etc., even giving color to the soil. Walnut makes black lands ; whitewood 

 and peach, light-colortd lands. 



The seed of any tree, fruit or other product will produce its kind if the flower 

 is not fertilized by a different tree ; fertilization only goes to the seed and does not 

 affect any other p'^rt of the tree. The continuous budding and grafting in connec- 

 tion with the deterioration of the land is like in-and-in breeding, and will finally 

 destroy our orchards. The injury of in-and-in breeding is not the near of kin but 

 the transmission of impaired vitality ; a near of kin implies similar character- 

 istics of weakness which are transmitted : that is, where the ancestors have a simi- 

 lar weakness, the offspring will have it to an increasing extent ; if the weakness in 

 ancestors is not similar, not in same organs, such weakness is often cured or les- 

 sened in offspring ; this applies to the vegetable world as well as the animal king- 

 dom. 



We must endeavor to get the coming orchard from the seed, and oo trans- 

 planting ; a tap-root once destroyed never grows again ; a root or limb after one 

 year's growth seldom if ever heals over. 



The younger the trees are set out, the healthier the trees. Go north for your 

 Iruit trees, never south ; take the tree up with all roots, no trimming, thick enough 

 to at once shade the ground if you can. 



The best fertilizers are their own leaves ; straw or any rocks always on the 

 surface, and some grass of the clover family that remains green all the time, so the 

 sun and wind can never get at the bare land. 



The summer sun must never strike the body of the tree. If the grass or 

 weeds get too high, cut them down and leave for mulch ; bring your orchard to the 

 condition of the primeval forest. If trimmed, doit in June when sap is in full cir- 

 culation ; the sap is again in circulation in August. 



Trim ofl this year's growth ; the advantage in trimming off new growth is, it 

 will heal over and hasten the bearing. It is believed now that the Japanese pro- 

 duce their dwarfs by constant trimming at the right time of growth, before the 



