Page 6 



BETTER FRUIT 



Scptctiihcr 



I'lGiiRE 5. Cross section of a young pine root. 

 (Piniis Strobus, L.) 



moisture be abundant. Fortunately 

 soils of this character are not common. 



Before following water from the root 

 hair region in its journey over the tree, 

 one more point must be mentioned. 

 Root hairs, to perform their work of 

 water intake properly, must have a cer- 

 tain amount of air in the soil. If the 

 soil be too wet or "water-logged," in- 

 jury results to the tree because of the 

 unfavorable conditions imposed upon 

 the root. Only a few trees, such as the 

 cypress (Figure 4), are adapted to meet 

 such as excess of water about their 

 roots. The significance of this fact in 

 orchard cultivation and drainage is 

 clear. 



If we cut a thin slice across a root, 

 we are able to see towards its center 

 the water-carrying vessels which take 

 the water absorbed by the root hairs 

 anil carr\- it up to the stem. Figure ,') 

 shows at X the water-carrying region 

 of a young pine root, while Figure (i 

 shows at X the region in a young vine 

 stem through which the water travels 

 after leaving the root. We can also see 

 in this cross cut of the young stem the 

 cambimn region at "C." The cambium 

 is practically the only region in which 



any of our orchard 



trees develop so as to 



produce increase in 



diameter of the stem. 



As this is the only 



growing region, it is 



very evident that two 



grafted stems unite 



only at this one re- 

 gion, the cambium; 

 y, hence the care which 

 ■O the orchardist exer- 

 cises in making the 



two cambium regions 



come together. 



The cambium lays 



down new wood each 



year, the latest wood 



always of course be- 

 ing the outer layer. 



The rings we often 



see running about the 



stump of a freshly 



hewn tree are the 



product of this yearly 



activity of the cam- 

 Figure 7 illustrates the yearly 

 rings of a stem, but if 

 more clearly just the 



biuni. 



we would see 

 cause of the 

 ringed appearance of the wood, we tind 

 it necessary to magnify the wood at the 

 region of one of these rings. This 



FicvRr. 7. Cross section of stem of the 

 Redwood iSeqiioia sempervirens. End.) 



wood or water-carrying tissue, as illus- 

 trated in Figure 8, is composed of water 



ducts or cells. The wood laid 



down in the later summer is 

 much more dense, as shown 

 at "A," while the early 

 summer wood is more por- 

 ous and open, as we see at 

 "S." This is partly ex- 

 plained by the fact that the 

 water demands upon the 

 tree aie greater in (he 

 spring in proportion to the 

 w a t e r - c a r r \ i n g tissues 

 present, tlian later in the 

 summer. Tlie wood of the 

 horticultural varieties, as 

 the walnut (l'"igure 9) or 

 the cherr\ (Figure 10), 

 shows the difference in 

 spring and late sunnner 

 wood a little less conspicu- 

 ously than Figure 8. 



If we follow the ascent 

 of the water up the stem, 

 the two points of destina- 



FiGURE 8. Magnified section of wood of the Pitch Pine il'inus 



resinasa. Ait.) "A," late summer wood: "S." early sunnner 



wood. 



leaves. Only in so far as water ab- 

 soriJtion from the root and water 

 transfer through the stem is in nor- 

 mal condition can the young buds 

 far up on the twigs open or ijcrforni 

 their work. In the leaf we tind the 

 source of the majority of all the food 

 which the plant produces and which 

 enaldes the tree to grow or produce 

 fruit. A very small proportion of the 

 woody tissues or of fruit tissues are due 

 to the so-called "foods" of the soil, but 

 the large per cent is derived from true 

 foods laid down in the leaves. This 

 makes clear the great injury to an 

 orchard resulting from any factor which 

 reduces the leaf area of the tree beyond 

 certain safe limits. If we cut across a 

 leaf and then look at the exposed edge 

 much magnified, we see something like 

 the diagram of Figure 11. The green 

 coloring of plants is particularly abun- 

 dant in the leaf, and is locafeil espe- 

 cialh- in the upper portions of the leaf, 

 which are marked "palisade." On the 

 under surface of the leaf will be seen 

 little openings, one of which is marked 



IGURE 6. Cross section of young stem of "Pipe 

 Vine." {Aris(olochia Siplio. L'Hei. i 



tion most of interest i)er- 

 haps are the buds and the 



I'lcuRF. 9. Magnilled section of the wood of tlie Walnut. 

 (JtlgUais nigra. I..) 



