306 ANNUAL EEPORT 



hand the others would have been killed if the sun had shone on them. 



It is my opinion that the sun injures the bark and cold injures the 

 -wood of a tree. We have many trees shaded by evergreens, the wood 

 of which was entirely killed by the winter of 1884:-5, but their bark is 

 as green and healthy as ever. 



Here let me refer to an article in the Farmer, of Oct. 21, 1886, by 

 C. Gaylord. He says: " Our Fameuse are all dead, or nearly dead, 

 except one. This now appears in fair condition. This I attribute to 

 the tree being set close on the north side of a picket fence some twelve 

 ■feet high. It has strong, hardy roots, properly grown from the stem 

 of the tree." The article was written on " Fruit Trees on Their Own 

 Eoots." 



In reply to the same in the Farmer, Nov. 25, 1886, we read : "First. 

 A fence twelve feet high affords considerable shade to the ground im- 

 mediately north of it, which shade prevents the evaporation of moist- 

 ure from the soil, and the trees standing in the shade of the fence had 

 the necessary amount of moisture to enable it to withstand forty de- 

 grees or more below zero, inasmuch as the frost was taken out of the 

 body of the tree while in the shade. Second. Had the fence been 

 taken away before the south side, or any part of the tree had thawed 

 after the intense cold of that winter and the frost had been taken out 

 by the sun, the tree in question would have gone with its fellows, 

 even had it been on a hardy root." The same writer, a Mr. Brewster, 

 further says : " The second great factor in the killing of trees is a 

 lack of sufficient moisture in the soil to enable the roots and leaves of 

 the trees to properly perform their functions in storing up in sufficient 

 quantities those elements which enable it to withstand extremes of 

 teat and cold." 



1 think he takes a right stand. Sunshine in winter and spring, 

 roots in dry soil, with the aid of cold, kill our trees. Cultivate the 

 ground among the trees for four or five years. Raise small fruits 

 (beans or potatoes), but not corn, since corn shuts out the wind and 

 causes the intervening soil to become too hot. Add as much fertility 

 to the land as the crops extract. Use short whiffletrees when culti- 

 vating or plowing, and never let a whiffietree touch a tree. Don't 

 allow any kind of crop to grow within six feet of a tree, but stir the 

 earth around the trees often, and five or six inches deep, for four or 

 five years. The feeding roots will by this time have extended eight 

 or ten feet in all directions, and cultivation must cease. A good mulch 

 to a distance of five feet from the tree will now prevent growth about 

 the tree and be better and cheaper than further cultivation. 



