20 THE AMERICAN PEACH ORCHARD 



have to be protected with burlap bandages under 

 the rope ties. Moreover, these stays usually require 

 readjustment and repair several times during the 

 summer. It is a taxing and puttering job, and no 

 one should undertake it w^ho does not like to be al- 

 v^ays fussing about in his garden. There are a good 

 many such men ; and it w^ill not be quite off the point 

 if I add here that I never knew a mean or dishonest 

 man in the lot. 



Perhaps those who have not tried it will be shocked 

 at the severe root pruning involved in the prescrip- 

 tion. It is true that three or four main roots have to 

 be severed in preparing some trees for laying down. 

 But root pruning is just exactly what these trees 

 need under the circumstances. The tops require to 

 be closely pruned to keep them in bounds for the 

 laying down process, and the root pruning only 

 serves to restore the balance between top and bot- 

 tom. If it happens to go somewhat farther in 

 particular cases its influence is to induce greater fruit- 

 fulness in the trees, and a high degree of fruitful- 

 ness is plainly to be desired in trees with which 

 so much pains are taken. The timid amateur horti- 

 culturist will be further reassured when he bes"ins 

 digging for the second year's laying down, for he 

 will find that the tree has very largely repaired his 

 supposed injury by the formation of great masses of 

 fine active fibrous roots. Thus when this practice 

 is carried out annually certain trees soon become 

 habituated to it, as it were, and thrive under it. 



A somewhat different method of arriving at the 

 same end was invented several years ago by an old 

 Vermont friend of mine, Mr. Joseph Macomber, a 

 very capable horticulturist in many ways. By this 

 method Mr. Macomber has been able to eat his own 

 Vermont-grown peaches almost every summer for a 



