The Bulletin. 7 



lands. Moisture obtained in this way is known in the irrigated re- 

 gions of the West as "seepage water" and is used to grow immense 

 fields of wheat in the foothills clustering about the bases of high moun- 

 tains. This condition is found to a greater or less degree in all moun- 

 tain regions. In coves and protected places it amounts to a natural 

 system of subirrigation. The slope that in times of flood takes ex- 

 cessive and injurious moisture from the roots of the trees in times of 

 drought brings the life-giving moisture to them. In mountain regions 

 one frequently sees large, healthy trees clinging to rocky crags, where 

 they would scarcely appear to have sufficient soil to cover their roots. 

 Though they have little soil, they have from their location so perfect 

 a system of root aeration, irrigation and drainage that they grow and 

 flourish to perfection. Such natural conditions of drainage and irri- 

 gation occur only in mountain regions. It is for this reason, more 

 than any other, that fruit trees in mountain regions are large, vigorous 

 and long-lived. 



The late T. K. Bruner, of this Department, in his valuable work on 

 "North Carolina and Its Besources," gives the following note on 

 mountain apple trees: 



The size to which apple trees attain in the mountains of North Carolina 

 is a source of wonder to those who have become accustomed to the trees in 

 the North. In one orchard in Haywood County was measured a tree that 

 had a girth of eleven feet and nine inches, and in the same orchard, which 

 had never been cultivated, there were a hundred other trees that were full 

 three feet in diameter of trunk and all in the most luxurious health. All that 

 is needed here is a population of fruit growers who understand the culture 

 and handling of winter apples. Apples of the northern varieties grown in 

 Watauga County are hardly recognizable because of their greater size and 

 beauty. 



AIR NECESSARY TO TREE ROOTS. 



Roots of trees require air as well as moisture. If the roots of a 

 tree are fully surrounded by water, air is excluded and the tree dies 

 of suffocation. On ill-drained lands trees have a way of pushing their 

 large roots partially above the surface of the soil, so that they can get 

 the air necessary for their growth. The cypress, which grows in 

 tidewater, sends up its knees above high-water mark, .so that it can 

 get its air in time of flood. The roots of trees, even under the most 

 favorable circumstances, do not go nearly so deep into the ground 

 as is commonly supposed. Their home is between the water table 

 and the surface. As to how commodious a home the tree roots 

 have will depend on how much living room there is between the 

 water table and the surface. The orchard in which the crayfish 

 made their burrows had too cramped a layer of aerated soil to sup- 

 port vigorous tree life. Trees which make the maximum growth 

 are those which have a deep water table, with a retentive but well- 

 aerated soil above it. The roots of trees will not grow below the 

 line of permanent ground-water. Of almost all trees three-fourths 

 of the root system is found in the first foot of soil. One is often 



