TRANSPLANTING THE APPLE IN THE NORTHWEST. 4I9 



two-year tree and fourteen a three-year-old tree ; two are equally 

 willing to plant trees four years old, and both of these are planters 

 of large experience. This list aggregates more than the sixteen, 

 which is the result of a preference expressed by a number for trees 

 two or three years old. It will be seen here that there is a larger 

 preference for trees three years old than any other age, and this 

 arises from the fact that the nurserymen in the list stand pretty well 

 together for the three-year-old trees; four to seven feet being the 

 range within which they agree. 



"I find there is some disagreement in the replies received to the 

 question in regard to top-pruning. A number express an opinion 

 indicating that the pruning should be sufficient to secure a good 

 shaped top, but the writer may have understood the question to apply 

 in a general way to pruning the tops of trees and not especially con- 

 nected with transplanting. Four would prune away one-half of the 

 length of the branches, leaving the central shaft, or shoot, entire ; 

 two would cut off two-thirds of the length of the branches, and one, 

 one-third. One expresses his judgment to 'reduce the top the same 

 as the root,' and this, it seems to me, is the logical thought. Space is 

 too limited to go into detail here as some of the writers have done, 

 though they agree fairly well, it seems to me, that one-half of the 

 new growth should be taken from the tree at the time of transplant- 

 ing. 



"A good deal has been said and some experimenting done late 

 years along the line of close root-pruning for transplanted trees. I 

 find a very general agreement among planters of note, not 

 only in the northwest, but all over the country, in leaving the root 

 of as good a length as can be conveniently dug, and I judge the 

 length of root as left by the ordinary nurseryman using the tree 

 digger to be in the main satisfactory to planters. One writer, it 

 seems to me, voices the general sentiment fairly in saying that two- 

 year trees should have the roots trimmed back to six inches, and 

 three-year trees to twelve inches, and larger ones in proportion. Sir 

 John Evelyn, the old English writer referred to above, seems to have 

 considered this subject with much care when he says that 'the main 

 point is to see that the root be larger than the head.' My correspon- 

 dents, while they say nothing on the subject of close root pruning, 

 almost uniformly agree that the injured roots should be pruned off 

 smoothly with a slanting cut from the inside, and five speak of hav- 

 ing smooth cuts on all ends ; a number speak of the length of the 

 roots of three-year-old trees ranging from ten to eighteen inches. It 

 is probably wise to trim off injured roots in this way, although it is 

 possible that planters generally are mistaken in believing that roots 

 as a rule grow from the callus which forms over these cuts ; at least 

 Prof. Bailey says, as a result of his experience, that 'the roots do not 

 necessarily arise from the callus.' 



"Having now secured our tree and agreed upon otf*er conditions 

 connected with the planting, we shall proceed to set it, and this 

 brings up a question upon which the planters in the northwest are, 

 it seems, very fairly agreed, although they are somewhat at variance 

 with recognized authorities. How deep shall the tree be planted? 



