270 



before shipping, thus saving in boxing and freights; and 

 finally the expensive digging of large holes could be dis- 

 pensed with, and in properly prepared soil the tree, whittled 

 to a neat stub, could be simply shoved into the ground, or 

 planted in a dibble hole like a cutting. 



This system of planting originated on the gulf coast of 

 Texas, and has been most extensively practiced there. Bein^ 

 familiar with gulf coast soils and knowing their soft, moist 

 character and great drouth resisting capacity, and their espe- 

 cial adaptability to the growth of all kinds of cuttings, my 

 own opinion was that most of the successes reported with 

 short root pruning were due to the character of the soil, and 

 that it would be likely to fail disastrously on hard and clayey 

 or drouthy land. 



In planting some pears and peaches during Febiuary, 1896, 

 it was determined to try the experiment. In two rows each 

 of pears and peaches, running twenty-four trees to the row, 

 half the trees were root pruned, leaving stubs less than half 

 an inch long. The others were planted in the usual way;, 

 alternating three of the root pruned and three not root pruned 

 trees. The peaches were Lady Ingold, Hale's Early, Alexan- 

 der, Elberta, Tillotson, Early Crawford, Mountain Rose, and 

 Stump. The pears were Bartlett on French roots, Bartlett 

 on Japanese roots, and Keiffer on Japanese roots. All were 

 well grown one year olds. The soil was a hard, gravelly hill- 

 side, with stiff clay sub-soil, and so poor and drouthy that it 

 only made five bushels of corn to the acre the previous season. 

 No more trying condition could be conceived for the test, and 

 it was with many misgivings that the carefully whittled stubs,, 

 looking like inverted walking canes, were planted in such 

 uncongenial surroundings. All, of course, were fertilized and 

 cultivated alike. To add to the severity of the test a drouth 

 set in early in April, with unseasonable heat, lasting till the 

 first week in June. 



On April 15 it was noted that;;the root pruned trees were 

 starting much more feebly and slowly than the others,. 

 but by April 27 they had fully caught up, and from that day 

 to this the closest inspection has failed to detect any differ- 



