WINTER MEETING. 155 



matter, orchard trees that are affected by that pecular white fungus 

 occurred ouly in new orchards. That more than anything else has led 

 me to believe that that fungus actually does attack the new trees and 

 causes them to die, rather than being a resulting growth after the tree 

 is dead. I have not seen anyone who has been able to trace any of 

 that fungus in any way to the old thoroughly cultivated orchards, 

 where there is no decaying vegetation. 



Mr. Straus — I feel very much interested in this discussion this 

 morning, particularly, as I want to plant about forty acres of apple 

 trees this coming spring. I would give an experience that I have had. 

 I have ten acres of orchard planted nine years ago and five acres in 

 another place, about a half mile apart. This season I lost about four 

 trees in the ten-acre orchard by root rot. I commenced studying the 

 cause. In the ten-acre orchard I have been cultivating strawberries 

 and every season I would plow them in June or July. In the other 

 orchard we planted early potatoes. The cultivating was done early 

 and after that, after the potatoes were out, the cultivating was princi- 

 pally done with. Well, the idea led me to this : I was raised in the 

 timber, and when we wanted to kill the timber we always took the 

 latter part of June, July and August, The idea led me to think that 

 by plowing the strawberries in June and July I had plowed a little too 

 deep and had cut the roots, and I found that it had injured them. I 

 made up my mind that after this I would plow my orchard after the 

 sap has gone down. I am not scientific in this, and I give the idea to 

 let the scientific men work on it, and it may be that this breaking the 

 roots through that part of the season will cause some disease, as it has 

 done in my orchard. 



Mr. Hammon — I would like to give a incident of deep planting in 

 California and its results. I was connected with a large orchard and 

 nursery there, and we made a sale of trees, 200 trees to one man. We 

 questioned him very closely when he bought the trees, regarding the 

 man he had to do the planting. He assured us that he had a first- 

 class man as foreman. The trees were planted and nothing aiore was 

 said for some time. After a time he came back very angry and said 

 that the trees were all bad and that they were all djing, and laid it all 

 t3 the trees, of course, like they always do. I was sent to examine 

 the orchard and I found the trees planted about eight inches below 

 the ground or collar of the tree. They were stagnating and would 

 not make any growth. I examined them and found the roots rotted 

 badly. There was a fungus growth on all of them, healthy and rotten 

 roots alike, and, by-the-way, they said this land had been farmed for 

 wheat-raising for twenty-five years. I will mention, by-the-way, that 



