l80 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



The President : I would like to hear from Mr. Sherman on this 

 matter of hardy roots. 



Mr. E. M. Sherman (Iowa) : In northern Iowa we did not 

 suffer seriously, but in southern Iowa everything was killed, even 

 the native plum on its own roots was killed. I believe there is no 

 kind of root that is proof against everything. No matter whether 

 it is a native root, a crab root or any other kind of root. One of the 

 reasons for lack of success in Minnesota and elsewhere is in the care 

 given the orchards. We do not cultivate our orchards half enough, 

 and the idea of dust mulch is a good thing. Many of our orchards 

 are used for pastures, sometimes for cattle, horses and hogs, and 

 such work will have to be abandoned if we expect to succeed in 

 orcharding. The idea that many men have who were raised in the 

 east that they can plant an apple tree and let it take care of itself 

 and grow good fruit is a delusion. The conditions in the east are 

 entirely different from those found in the west. 



Mr. Yahnke: I would like to make a statement here. In 1873 

 when trees were killed all over the country I had quite a lot killed 

 in the nursery killed in the roots, but all those that stood on their 

 own roots came through, and those that were not on their own 

 roots died. I have some standing today, some Ben Davis, that went 

 through that winter. I dug them up and sawed off the old roots 

 and those that were on their own roots are alive today. They stood 

 on their own roots better than on other roots. 



Mr. Underwood : I would like to say a word on the matter of 

 planting in line with Mr. Cook's paper. When asked as to the 

 depth to plant he said we should plant from twelve to twenty-four 

 inches deep. This matter of planting I think is very important for 

 the simple reason that we want to look out for moisture. Of course, 

 there is a protection to the root by planting pretty deep, and you 

 thereby get a thick root from the own root of the tree, and if the 

 scion or graft is planted deep you will get that result Mr. Cook 

 speaks of. But there is another reason for deep planting. Xobody 

 can plant a tree and put the dirt back into the hole that came out 

 of it. You can't do it and do it right. You cannot pack that dirt 

 in as tight as it was before it was taken out. You must take away 

 some dirt. This young man here will bear me out in this. When they 

 planted this large orchard here at St. Paul under my direction they fi- 

 gured out they were going to plant one hundred trees a day, but they 

 only averaged about thirty trees a day. They found out while they 

 were planting that orchard that they had to take out from one to two 

 wheelbarrow loads of dirt and throw it clear away, so when the 

 tree was planted it was standing in a basin which was about six 

 feet in diameter and about a foot deep. That was for the purpose 

 of holding moisture. The tree was put down in the bottom of the 

 hole. They lost fifteen Wealthy out of two thousand. They planted 

 a lot of other trees at the time. In planting trees on the street along 

 the sidewalk you will find they will try to put all the dirt back into 

 the hole and they make a little mound around the tree which sheds 

 off all the moisture, which goes into the gutter instead of to the roots 

 of the tree, where it ought to go. You want a basin around that 



