Periodical Literature. 337 



Intensive development of plant material is 

 Nursery Practice the order of the day in Germany, and plant- 

 Root Pruning. ing of older stock with the ball of earth is 



becoming more general. Principally to se- 

 'Cure good stock for such use, a new root pruning knife has been de- 

 vised by Kaiser, a double-edge V-shaped knife, which can be at- 

 tached with varying angle to a long handle. The object of the 

 pruning is, of course, to secure a compact, fibrous root system, which 

 especially in plants used with the -ball of earth will keep the ball 

 together. For spruce the pruning is to be done twice before trans- 

 planting, the first time in the spring, the second year in summer or 

 fall (August, September). The intention is to secure only short, 

 new fibrils, when the loss of roots in removing the plants will be 

 Tninimum. Evidently, four-year-olds are to be grown. When plants 

 in the nursery are set 6 inches apart men can prune easily 400 

 plants. 



Das Kaiser 'sche Wurzelschneidemesser. AUgemeine Forst- and 

 -Jagdzeitung. Sept., 1906, p. S5Q. 



Two years ago the Pommeranian Foresters' 



Reforesting Society discussed pretty fully the early 



Farm Soils. thinning out and dying of the Scotch Pine 



on reforested farm land areas. Various 



views were expressed holding accountable such different 



agencies as fungus pests and soil conditions. Set to 



thinking by these different expressions of opinion, Froem- 



bling, the author of this article, believes he has found the true 



cause. This is two-fold. Directly it is due to a root-rot (Polyporus 



annosus), but one must look farther to account for the fact that this 



fungus confines its serious ravages to stands upon agricultural soil 



though it is found quite generally distributed through all pine 



stands, doing little damage. 



The primary reason is the animal manure remaining in farm land 

 when it is reforested. This manure forces the young trees into un- 

 natural growth during the thicket age and leaves them overgrown 

 and weakened as they enter the polewood stage. In this plight they 

 fall easy prey to the root-rot. 



Exhaustion of the soil by growing the last farm crops without 



