ROOT -PRUNING PEACHES 245 



PEACH (HORTON EIVERS) 



(Twenty trees in each lot) 



A. Roots normal, six inches long. Sixteen lived. All roots 



had a strong downward tendency. See right-hand 

 root in Fig. 164. Average weight of trees, December, 

 1897, seventeen pounds. 



B. Roots cut to four and one-half inches long. Eighteen 



lived. The strongest, thriftiest, most shapely trees 

 in any of the lots. Roots all striking downwards. 



C. Roots cut to three inches long. Fifteen lived. Ten had 



downward -growing roots, and five had very flat or 

 horizontal root systems. 



D. Roots cut to two inches long. Nine lived. Five had down- 



ward -growing roots and four had horizontal roots. 



E. Roots cut to one inch long. Twelve lived. Six had roots 



with downward tendency, and six had all roots almost 

 perfectly horizontal. The three left-hand specimens in 

 Fig. 164 are from this lot E. The tree on the extreme 

 left weighed one pound fourteen ounces, and rep- 

 resents an average specimen. The second from the 

 left weighed five pounds eight ounces, and is the 

 best tree in the lot. The third from the left is the 

 only one in the lot that had a distinct tap-root. It 

 weighed four pounds five ounces. 



From first to last, the moderately pruned trees 

 were clearly the best, and the stub -root trees were 

 poor and weak, even after two years 7 growth. 



PEAR (BARTLETT) 



(Twenty-five trees in each lot) 



A. Normal. Roots six to eight inches long. Twenty-one 

 lived; sixteen first-class trees. 



