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FIRST LESSON IN FRUIT GROWING- 1. 



-N the general round of his work, the 

 fruit-grower has to deal largely with 

 trees, vines, bushes or plants. That 

 ^i he may at all times care for and man- 

 age these mtelligently, he must know some- 

 thing of their structure, and of the functions 

 which the different parts of the tree or plant 

 have to perform. 



Roughly speaking, we may say that a 

 growing tree is made up of roots, trunk,' 

 branches, buds and leaves, and that under 

 certain conditions it produces flowers and 

 fruit ; but for our purpose it is necessary to 

 study these parts more closely that we may 

 notice the various forms which they present, 

 and if possible learn the objects which they 

 fulfill in the economy of tree growth. 



THE ROOT. 



Where the root joins the trunk, just at or 

 about the surface of the ground, is what is 

 known as the collar. This is not a fixed 

 point, as its position may be raised in young 

 trees by banking earth about the trunk, new 

 roots being formed above the older collar. 



The first root formed is the tap root, which 

 usually goes straight downwards from the 

 collar. In some trees, particularly the nut 



bearing trees, such as the walnut, hickory 

 and oak, the tap root becomes very large 

 and strong. In fruit and ornamental trees, 

 which are taken up and transplanted when 

 quite young, this downward growth of tap 

 root is checked, and development of lateral 

 foots takes place. 



The lateral roots may be said to be branches 

 from the tap root. They grow more or less 

 horizontally, and usually spread a good deal 

 farther in the ground than the branches of 

 the tree spread in the air above them. 



The tap and lateral roots are the largest 

 roots, but associated with them is usually a 

 greater number of smaller thread-like roots 

 known as rootlets or root fibres. In some 

 kinds of trees they are much more freely 

 produced than in others. They are most 

 abundant in trees having a thick, branchy 

 top. The quince and peach has usually lots 

 of fibrous roots, while in the apple and pear 

 the laterals are more or less bare of root 

 fibres. The more frequently a tree is trans- 

 planted, the more fibrous its roots become. 



To complete the root system, there is still 

 another class of roots known as root-hairs. 

 These are very delicate, hair-like roots, so 

 small that they can hardly be seen without 



