ROOT PRUNING. 199 



callous and throws out a new growth, and if you have a root pruned 

 plant it helps to start the growth more readily than if you have a 

 large cluster of long roots that, possibly, would become either dried 

 out or become heated and spoil in that way. I agree with the gen- 

 tlemen that there is no particular advantage in root pruning if j'^ou 

 cannot get the root sj'stem spread out and take enough pains with 

 it so it readily comes in contact with the earth. Of course, Mr, 

 Stringfellow, who is such a strong advocate of root pruning, is talk- 

 ing for a southern state, but you cannot get too many roots for me, 

 but thej^ must be in perfect condition and so planted that the earth 

 will come in contact with them, and not have them crowded in the 

 hill. 



Mr. Converse: Wh}'^ should we not put loose dirt over the root? 



Pres. Underwood: Take the strawberry root for instance. I re- 

 ceived my first instruction in planting from an old English gard- 

 ener, and he had me prune off the roots and take off all the leaves 

 except one or two small ones on the strawberry plant. An unpruned 

 strawberry root is quite a mass, as large as my hand, and to take 

 time to spread that out and give it the proper condition for success 

 is quite a task, and root pruning saves a great deal of that work. 

 If you have a good many plants j'ou cannot afford to set them out 

 with the care required without pruning the roots. Take twenty to 

 fifty thousand and set them out in that way, and it makes quite an 

 item of work. To do it just as thoroughly with a view to success 

 and in a cheaper and more rapid way, that is what we are looking 

 for. Where they set them with machines, with tobacco planters, 

 they are placed in the ground all in a mass, and it seems to me un- 

 less the3' do root prune them and top prune them thej'^ would not be 

 in good condition to make a successful growth. That would be 

 my explanation of the advantages of root prtining. I think j'ou 

 could make a success with a great big root, but it would also require 

 a great deal of work to do it with any success. 



Mr. Converse: Then j'our object in pruning would be to getrid of 

 the work? 



Pres. Underwood: Yes, it saves a good deal of work, and the idea 

 is that we can be just as successful with a pruned root as with a 

 whole root. 



Mr. Smith: I think there is a little misunderstanding in regard to 

 this root pruning. Supposing it is a currant bush you wish to plant 

 and j'ou have a root sixteen to eighteen inches long, I think j'ou will 

 get a better growth and your plant will be more likely to live if you 

 cut that root back to eight or ten inches and allow newroots to start 

 out. Now take, for instance, the raspberry; when j'ou take them up, 

 you have a large bunch of fine, long roots; when you plant them, 

 you must be careful to spread those roots out, and they will be a 

 long waj' from the centre; and 1 am satisfied that by cutting theiu 

 off squarely two or three inches froiu the stem, such roots would 

 make a better and healthier growth than if you left the roots their 

 full length. Take those young forest seedlings and cut them off at 

 the root, and they make a better growth. I am satisfied that root 

 pruning is of great advantage otherwise than merely saving labor. 



