Feeding the Land 179 



the open in the United States, such as peach, 

 apple, cherry, grape, currant, or berry, grows the 

 year round. That the plant while in a seemingly 

 inactive state, as in winter, continues vital func- 

 tions, there is no doubt. We do not yet under- 

 stand them. Distiu*b these functions on a winter's 

 day and the plant perishes as quickly as when they 

 are disttirbed in summer. 



During the brief growing-period of the plant we 

 make soil for its benefit, — or, more correctly speak- 

 ing, make the food for the plant available in the 

 soil. We cannot do this in winter or late autumn ; 

 we must feed it in spring or summer when it will 

 take food ; in spring rather than in siunmer because 

 it then feeds most vigorously. Plainly then it is 

 the fruit-grower who feeds his plants, he who 

 makes his fruit. Begin as soon as the weather 

 permits to feed yoiu* plantation. This means 

 having your plant-food ready for the plant as soon 

 as it awakens from its winter rest and begins to 

 feed. This plant-food is not needed in the bam, or 

 the packing-house, or on the truck wagon, but in 

 the soil in available form. Plants have roots; 

 roots and cells wonderfully organized and associ- 

 ated as it were lengthwise, beneath the skin or bark 

 of the root. These cells have thin walls, which, if 

 alive, have the power of absorbing moisture or gas. 

 If this moisture is food, the roots take it up by a 

 process known as absorption {endosmosis), new 

 cells form, the plant grows; for a plant in earth 

 below or air above is an assemblage of cells. When 







