20 One Thousand Questions in Agriculture 



Transplanting Old Trees. 



Can I transplant fntit trees 2 to 3 inches through the butt, about one 

 foot from the ground? Varieties are oranges, lemons, pears, apples and 

 English ivalnuts nearly 4 inches through the butt. I wish to move them 

 nearly a mile. What is the best ivay and what the best month to do 

 the work, or are trees too large to do well if movedf 



The orange and lemon will do better in transplanting than the 

 others. Take up the trees when the soil becomes warmed by the 

 sun after the coldest weather is over. This may be in February. 

 Cut back the branches severely and take up the trees with a good 

 ball of earth, using suitable lifting tackle to handle it without break- 

 ing. Settle the earth around the ball in the new place with water, 

 and keep the soil amply moist but not wet. Whitewash all bark 

 exposed to the sun by cutting back. You can handle the walnut 

 the same way, but it would, however, probably get such a setback 

 that it might be better to buy a new tree two or three years old 

 and plant that. The apples and pears we would not try to trans- 

 plant, but would rather have good new yearlings than try to coax 

 them along. Transplanting deciduous trees should be done earlier 

 in the winter than evergreens. 



Dwarfing a Frmt Tree. 



/ am told that by pruning the roots of a young tree after the root 

 system is zvell started (say three years old) that as a result this will pro- 

 duce a tree that is semi-dwarfed or practically a dzuarfed fruit tree. 



Yes; cutting back the roots in the winter and cutting back the 

 new growth in the summer will have a dwarfing efifect. The best 

 way to get a dwarfed garden tree is to use a dwarfing root. You 

 can get trees on such roots at the nurseries. 



Seedling Fruits. 



I have been growing seedlings from the pits of some extra fine peaches 

 and plums with a viciv to planting them. A man near San Jose advised 

 me that I would get good results, but since then I have met others who 

 say that the fruit trees that spring from planted seeds yield only poor 

 fruit. 



It is the tendency of nearly all improved fruit to revert to wild 

 types, more or less, when grown from the seed. The chances are, 

 then, that nine-tenths or more of the seedlings which you grew for 

 fruiting might be worthless. A few might be as good as the fruit 

 from which you took the pits; possibly one might be better. For 

 these reasons the growing of fruit trees from pits and seeds is only 

 used for the purpose of getting a root from which a chosen variety 

 may be gotten by budding and grafting. 



Grafting. 



/ did a little grafting last spring, and as it was my first attempt, about 

 ten per cent of the scions failed to grow. Now shall I saw the stub off 



