EXPERIMENT STATION WORK WITH PEACHES. 417 



the tree cut back to about 12 or IS inches, thus making practicahj 

 a cutting out of tlie tree. Thus treated, the trees can be set by making 

 the holes with a crowbar and firmh' tamping the earth around the 

 base after setting. It is claimed by Stringfellow that by this method 

 of treatment the roots of the trees will take a more downward course 

 and would thus be less subject to varying influences of heat, drought, 

 and cold, and a more vigorous, longer lived tree would result. 



This method of pruning trees and various modifications of it have 

 been tested at a number of experiment stations. At the Delaware 

 Station " Powell cut the roots of one lot of peach trees back to 8 inches, 

 those of another back to 3, and those of a third lot were "cut back 

 just below the collar and just under the first good side roots." The 

 trees thus treated were planted in a heav}", well-drained clay loam 

 with a stiff subsoil 8 or 10 inches below the surface and the experiment 

 was duplicated on a Avarm, well-drained sandy loam with a stiff sub- 

 soil 2 feet below the surface. 



On the clay-loam soil practicalh' all the trees with the roots primed 

 back to 8 inches or 3 inches lived, while of those pruned back to stubs 

 only a little over one-half lived, and none of these were first-class 

 trees. On the sandy-loam soil practically all the trees lived by what- 

 ever method of pruning, but of those pruned to stubs only about 11 

 per cent formed first-class trees, while when the roots were left from 

 3 to 8 inches long practicalh" all were first-class trees. 



In another experiment on warm, well-drained sandy loam 16 out 

 of 20 trees pruned according to the Stringfellow method lived and 

 made a growth equally as good as trees root pruned according to 

 methods usually followed. From these experiments Powell con- 

 cludes that "a tree without roots may be able to put forth a new 

 system and make as good a tree as any other on moist quick-acting 

 sandy loams." 



It was further shown in these experiments that "stub-pruned 

 trees are at a disadvantage in ground that freezes solidly throughout 

 the winter, in a dry fall or spring, or in a cold soil." The root systems 

 of the stub-pruned trees in these experiments did not take a more 

 downward direction than tiiose not primed at all, or those pnmed 8 

 inches or 3 inches. Similarly with the tops of the trees the branches 

 were found to start anj^where along the trunk from near the ground 

 to the top or from one side, and it is concluded that the stub-pruning 

 system is not one of universal application, but one of local merit on 

 warm, moist, mellow soils. It is recommended that Delaware 

 orchardists prune the roots of fruit trees in setting back to 3 or 5 

 inches in length. "Shorter roots present no emphatic advantages 

 and longer roots are useless and expensive to set in the ground." 



a Delaware Sta. Bui. 15 

 294b— 07 27 



