ODDS AND ENDS. 305 



The writer's own experience confirms the point in ques- 

 tion; four trees of the Le Conte variety on quince stock 

 have almost stood still on our own grounds, while cuttings 

 from other trees on pear stock, although three years 

 younger, have far outstripped the former in size and vigor. 



Of all the ills that trees are heir to there is none more 

 universal than those which are directly due to a cause that 

 need never exist at all. This is the exposure of the trunks 

 of fruit trees to the scorching effects of the afternoon sun 

 on the south and southwest. If the bark is not actually 

 killed and the sap soured on that side of the tree, it is 

 almost certain to become hide-bound, and to act as a liga- 

 ture on the delicate sap-cells beneath it. 



In cutting across the trunk of an orange tree, for in- 

 stance, the difference of the rings showing the annual 

 growth of the wood is very perceptible, those that were 

 on the south and southwest sides of the tree being much 

 thinner than the same rings on the opposite side. 



We have seen fruit growers set out trees from the nurs- 

 eries where they have been well shaded all their short lives 

 by low limbs and close planting, trim them bare, and thus 

 leave them out in the open ground, exposed to the full 

 strength of the sun, which beats down all day long on the 

 young, tender bark. 



Now, is this good treatment or good judgment? Those 

 who pursue this course are answered, bye and bye, in trees 

 stunted, diseased, or dead, and then they wonder what is 

 the matter, and, if the trees were purchased, blame the 

 seller for the fault that lies at their own door, in full sight, 

 if they would but open their eyes and look. Never set 

 out a tree of any kind and leave it standing with a bare 

 trunk. 



26 



