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and if so, if you have ever practiced root pruning? I ask 

 this question because I planted some Japanese Plums and 

 there was one tree that made three times as much wood aa 

 any of the others, but it didn't bear a plum until I cut it, 

 say, six or eight feet — I have forgotten just exactly the 

 distance from the bottom — and I dug out clear around it 

 eighteen inches deep and cut off every root I found. I dug 

 that channel, and from that time on that tree bore excel- 

 lently. 



MR. FRASER. Summarizing the question, it really 

 means would root pruning not be a remedy for the trees 

 which are making a large amount of wood and bearing lit- 

 tle fruit. I have never tried it. I have felt that we didn't 

 need it to any extent. I haven't tried it to any extent in 

 this country. I am familiar with it in Europe, under their 

 conditions. Over there I know how much it is used, but I 

 have not seen it in use here to any extent, and I don 't think 

 it is a commercial proposition. That is only my personal 

 opinion, though. I think it might be used in small plant- 

 ings with profit. I think if you are going into a commercial 

 proposition it is very much easier to girdle the trees, rather 

 than prune the root. You can, of course, girdle them very, 

 very quickly and you are sure to make them bear. Just 

 take a ring of bark off the trunk or limb in June, an inch, 

 or ten inches if you like — it doesn't matter on a big tree — 

 you can do a lot on a old tree, taking out quite a chunk 

 without harm. It will heal over in a day. while the sap i? 

 running. It will do very little harm at that time. At 

 other times it will kill the tree. 



MR. BOGUE OF NEW YORK. May I be pardoned if 

 T answer the question of the gentleman who spoke about the 

 Japanese plums? It is purely a technical question and I 

 want to assure him that what he did on that plum was just 

 right. The Japanese plum requires more of that than any 

 other variety, because it is a surface feeder and he did just 

 the right thing to cause it to fruit. 



MR. HULSE. I have seen an old orchard badh' sun- 



