98 CALIFORNIA FRUITS: HOW TO GROW THEM 



select trees of good medium size, straight and healthy. During the 

 digging season, ask to see samples of the roots as well as the tops, 

 and do not purchase trees unless the roots are healthy looking and free 

 from knots or excrescences. Gnarly and knotty roots in the young 

 tree are a sure sign of insect pests or of unhealthy growth, and plant- 

 ing such trees has occasioned immense loss. Many have been led 

 into purchasing poor trees because they may be had cheap. A tree 

 selected merely because it is cheap may prove the most expensive 

 thing a man can put in the ground. 



Guarding Against Insects. The top of the tree should be care- 

 fully examined to discover scale insects if there be any. For this 

 purpose a hand-magnifier should be used. Such a glass should always 

 be in the fruit grower's pocket. One can be bought at any optician's 

 for a dollar or two, which will fold into its case so as to be carried 

 without scratching. Our nurserymen, by forsaking old infested loca- 

 tions and obtaining new ground, now sell much cleaner trees than 

 they did years ago. But still it is well to be always on the watch for 

 pests. Disinfection of nursery stock is now officially provided. De- 

 tails of treatment will be given in the chapter on injurious insects. 



TAKING TREES FROM THE NURSERY 



Trees should be carefully taken from the nursery rows, so as to 

 obtain a good amount of small branching roots. In lifting from the 

 home nursery, digging with well-sharpened spades, which will sever 

 the long roots cleanly, is perhaps the best method. In the large 

 nurseries tree diggers are generally used. They have two revolving 

 coulters which cut through the surface soil each side of the trees, and 

 a sharp, curved blade, which is drawn through the ground under the 

 trees, loosening the soil and severing the long roots cleanly. The 

 tree is then easily lifted, and has generally a much better root system 

 than by the old style of "plowing out," which broke off so many of 

 the small roots and lacerated the larger ones. Whether the tap root 

 should be retained or not is not worth discussing on theoretical 

 grounds. As a matter of fact and practice, the tap root cuts no figure 

 at all in California orchard planting, although the discussion of the 

 question was formerly very warm in this State, and is still occasion- 

 ally heard. It is important, however, that the planter should have 

 as many small lateral roots as he can get. The small fibrous roots 

 are usually of little account, as they seldom survive transplanting, 

 and it is better to clip them away, if the time can be afforded, as they 

 often prevent the proper close contact of the soil with the larger roots. 

 Cutting back all roots to short stubs at the base of the stem has suc- 

 ceeded in some instances in California on moist lowlands, but longer 

 roots are far safer in the deep drying of the surface layer which is to 

 be expected in this State. 



The roots, after lifting, should not be permitted to dry. Hence, 

 in hauling from the nursery to the farm, the trees should be well 

 covered with wet straw and old sacks, or, if shipped from the nursery 

 to distant points, should be well packed. The best way to pack trees 



