I82 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



attributed that to the deep planting. They could not make any 

 surface roots. Among the Peerless, which a good many of you say 

 is not a good bearer, on all those trees that are bearing in my orchard 

 you can see the roots from the top of the ground. They have good 

 surface roots. Nature makes those roots for three purposes : first, 

 to aid in the growth of the tree ; second, to retain the tree in an up- 

 right position and, third, to aid the tree in forming fruit. If you 

 plant too deep in the ground you take away one of those purposes 

 for which the surface roots are formed. As I say, there are three 

 causes, and if you remove one of them the tree will not send out 

 roots to hold itself in an upright position, and it does not do it. I 

 have dug down around these deep planted trees and taken away 

 six inches of the surface soil. This year they did a little bette'r 

 because it was wet all summer long. If we had had a drouth this 

 year the apples would have dropped again. They have got roots 

 enough below to maintain the tree and to grow the apples provided 

 it is wet enough all the time, but if it just runs along a few days 

 when it is not wet enough the apples begin to drop off. If I plant 

 a tree near the surface its roots will be hardier, and then they have 

 got to go down somewhat to sustain the tree. The strongest trees 

 are those growing right in the wind where they are exposed to the 

 wind all the time. Nature makes it so ; it has got to be so. You 

 protect a tree with a high windbreak, and it cannot be so strong as 

 a tree growing in the winds continually, where every .muscle, as 

 you might say, is in use and constantly exercised. You know that 

 a man who exercises his muscle is the strongest man. To get surface 

 roots you must use the short root and the long scion, and, as a rule, 

 if you get surface roots you get them the first year. In transplanting 

 a three year old tree, with many varieties you will have good sized 

 surface roots. 



Mr. Bentz (S. D.) : It seems to me there is a wrong impression 

 going out from the discussions we have at these meetings. The 

 people who do not understand much about horticulture get an idea 

 that there is no hardy apple tree, and that it is largely an experiment 

 and really a foolishness to plant an orchard under such circum- 

 stances, since Prof. Hansen and others tell us that all varieties of 

 apples will winter-kill. Before I began to thoroughly inquire into 

 this matter I thought it was useless to plant an orchard if out of 

 the thousands of trees planted not one or scarcely one would pass 

 through the winter successfully ; it seemed to me it was a waste of 

 time and effort to plant an orchard. Our people have received this 

 impression from reading horticultural reports, not knowing what 

 to do to protect their trees to make sure of a successful orchard. 

 It seems to me if we were tO' emphasize the fact that every man can * 

 protect his orchard by providing a mulch for winter protection to 

 protect against root-killing we would be doing a great deal more 

 good for the horticultural interests of the northwest than by going 

 into the scientific discussion of this root-killing business. It seems 

 to me the farmer who is indifferent to winter protection does not 

 deserve an orchard — he might as well plant corn out on the open 

 prairie and expect it to grow without cultivation, and if the farmer 



