136 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



wood is formed. Best results come from trees where limbs start from the tree at 

 the ground, at an angle not less than 45°, and this angle they keep, if set thick ; 

 after they crowd and interfere with their bearing, thin out. 



By leaving the stumps in the ground, to gradually decay, it keeps the land 

 loose and adds the best tree fertilizer to the soil. A water sprout or limb in a tree 

 often indicates an impairment somewhere in the tree, perhaps near where the 

 sprout starts ; above this is always the most vigorous limb of the tree and carries 

 the sap where needed ; the leaves, the green bark and numerous large leaves 

 show health. 



All that goes to make a plant, a tree, enters as a gas, a prepared atmosphere, 

 never as a fluid. I doubt if a tree feeds from any pores on top of a leaf, always from 

 the under side of a leaf; see the glaze on top of leaf, and the open pores on the 

 under side of a leaf. 



Rotation of crops is not required, either to enrich the soil or to improve the 

 crops or fruit ; if we assist the plants, let them have the room they want, and keep 

 out that which intrudes or crowds or impoverishes the land ; plants will do the 

 rest, and the more plants the richer the land, and every succeeding crop will be aa 

 improvement on its predecessor. 



The sooner after maturity a seed gets into the soil, the more vigorous the 

 growth ; this can not always be done, then we must keep the seed in some moist, 

 cool condition, in which found at maturity. If wheat, oats, beans be left in the 

 straw until needed, same with corn, it is better. All the moisture that goes out of 

 a seed after maturity is that much life. 



Nuts must remain in the damp hull till planted. 



I submit the following letter ; 



Logan, Utah, Nov. 23, 1893. 

 John C. Bender, Esq., St. Joseph, Mo. : 



Dear Sir— The Missouri reports, which I before named for you, will give the 



information for which you ask. The amount of material that a plant draws from 



the atmosphere, directly or indirectly, through its leaves in the form of carbonic 



acid, etc., amounts to 95 per cent as a general average, sometimes as high as 99 and 



as low as 91. The soil and the atmosphere furnish all the essentials of plant growth, 



except nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash, and often one or two of these in great 



abundance. Probably it is not essential to furnish more than 1 to 3 per cent of the 



weight of plants in the form of plant food. 



Very respectfully, 



J. W. Sanborn, 



Director. 



ABOUT PROTECTING l^RUIT TREES. 



For the last six years I have been growing an apple orchard, putting out 

 about 500 trees each year, and I have given the protection of the body of the trees 

 special attention. I began by using wire cloth. This was rolled about a round 

 stick until it was a cylinder about two inches in diameter. 'I his was a slow and 

 unsatisfactory process, and so 1 invented a simple machine for curling the wires 

 into cylinders, by means of which the labor was reduced to a minimum, whereby 

 the trees could be well wired and that very rapidly. The wire cloth I kept on the 

 year round, and so long as it lasted it was a perfect protection. It served many- 

 purposes. It kept the body shaded and free from scald. It kept ofl rabbits. It 

 kept oflFthe fly that lays the borer eggs, which are more destructive than rabbits. 

 Also it protected the body of the tree well from bruises and cuts in cultivating and! 

 plowing the land. 



