ABOUT FRUITS, FLOWERS AND FARMING. 63 



through its length near so soon as a solid bar of the same 

 length. 



If this reasoning be true, and experience bears it out, the 

 plow should be kept running in dry times to save a crop 

 from drought. But if the farmer has neglected his corn, 

 waiting for rain, and begins to plow after his ground is 

 very dry, and plows deep, breaking the roots of his corn, 

 the crop will be &quot; fired ;&quot; for, in this case, besides the 

 evaporation from the leaves and the dryness of the soil, he 

 commences breaking the roots by which the crop drinks 

 what little water there may be left for it. Of course it 

 despairs when it is attacked on one side by the heat, and 

 on the other by the foolish farmer, and underneath by a 

 treacherously dry soil. Begin, then, early, and plow often, 

 and you may defy dry summers and cram your crib with 

 hearty crops of corn. 



BREAKING THE ROOTS. Many farmers study to break 

 the roots of their corn. We have heard them boast of ripping 

 them up with a big plow till they clogged it up like bundles 

 of yarn. It is done by some because others do it ; those 

 who attempt to reason, say, that if a root be broken it 

 immediately puts out many more from the point of break 

 age ; and the practice of root-pruning fruit-trees is cited, 

 to show that the fruitfulness of a plant is increased by 

 reducing the root and checking the growth of the wood. 

 It is not true that the fruitfulness of a tree is increased by 

 root-pruning, but, it is made to yield its fruit earlier. It is 

 a device to bring trees rapidly into bearing. A pear-tree 

 (grafted) requires from five to eight years before it is 

 matured enough to commence bearing. By mutilation of 

 root, bending of branches, or by a poor gravelly soil, the 

 tree is partially forbidden to grow, and obliged to ripen its 

 wood and fit it for fruit-bearing. But had it grown to its 

 natural size, it would then have borne even more fruit than 

 when dwarfed. 



No such practice is required upon annual plants, whose 



