CITEUS DISEASES. 51 



resistent trees. The grower could well afford to give this matter 

 some attention by searching for trees of this nature. 



PLANTING IN THE GROVE. 



The actual setting of the young trees in the grove involves a 

 number of factors, which have a more or less direct bearing on the 

 future health of the trees, and their resistance to disease. Care is 

 necessary to prevent a drying out of the roots through too long 

 exposure to air, and all ])rokeii or injured roots should be cut aw^ay, 

 leaving smooth, clean wounds. Treatment of these cuts will hardly 

 be practicable or necessary because of their small size. Such points 

 as careful preparation of the soil, straightening out of the roots, and 

 planting at such time as to avoid severe drouths, are so obvoius as 

 to need no further elucidation. 



The practice of setting the trees high, practically on the surface 

 of the ground, so that when the roots are covered a mound of earth 

 results, has much to recommend it, particularly where drainage is 

 at all difficult or uncertain. In the older groves large numbers of 

 trees, set with the crowns level with the surface, have settled so that 

 they are now in basins, which if the soil is at all heavy, hold water 

 for considerable leng-ths of time. Low setting increases the danger 

 of injury from faulty drainage, and also adds to the possibility of 

 the heaping of soil around the crown and base of the trunk, a condi- 

 tion that favors foot-rot and other bark diseases. 



It might be thought that distance of planting would be without 

 effect on the susceptibility to disease. It is, however, true that wh^re 

 trees are so close together as to interlock and so shade the ground 

 completely, the resulting dampness and shade prove very favorable 

 to bark diseases, foot-rot and pink disease in particular. 



CULTIVATION. , 



Little need be said on the subject of cultivation. It will be readily 

 apparent that tliere is an important relation, though indirect, i)e- 

 tween the cultivation given in a grove and the amount of disease. 

 In general, the better the cultivation the healthier the trees, and 

 hence their greater resistance to attack l)y unfavorable influences 

 or parasites. Methods will vary greatly, depending upon age and 

 location of the grove, character of tlie soil, and other circumstances, 

 so that the actual cultivation practices to give best results are some- 

 thing that each grower should work out for himself by observation 

 and experiment. 



