Fruit Growing 11 



Mailing Scions. 



Which is the best n^ay to scud scions by mail? 



Wax the ends of mature cuttings, remove the leaves and en- 

 close in a tight tin canister with no wet packing material. 



Nursery Stock in Young Orchard. 



Hozv ivill it do to raise, for tzco or three years, a lot of orange 

 seedlings betxvcen the rozvs of young three-year-old orange trees? I 

 see that a nurseryman near me has done this, and his trees are more 

 flourishing than mine. 



It can be done all right, as your own observation affirms. The 

 superior appearance of the trees may be due to the additional water, 

 and fertilizer probably, used to push the seedlings; possibly also to 

 extra cultivation given them. It all depends upon what policy is 

 observed in growing the seedlings; if something more than usual is 

 done for their sakes, the trees may get their share and manifest it. 

 If not, the trees will be robbed by the seedlings, and there is likely to 

 be loss by both. There is no advantage in the mere fact that both 

 are grown; there may be in the way they are grown. Whether there 

 is money value in the operation or not depends upon how many un- 

 dertake it. 



Square or Triangular Planting. 



What is your opinion on triangular planting as compared with square 

 planting? 



Planting in squares is the prevailing method. The triangular 

 plan is not a good one when one contemplates removing trees planted 

 as fillers. The orchard should either be planned in the square or 

 quincunx form. In the latter case individual trees can be easily re- 

 moved; in the other case rows can be removed — leaving the rows 

 which you wish to keep equidistant from each other. 



Killing Stumps by Medication. 



Will boring into green stumps and inserting a handful of saltpeter 

 kill the roots and cause the stump to readily burn up a few inonths 

 later? 



We have tried all kinds of prescriptions and have never killed a 

 stump which had a mind to live. Many trees can be killed by cutting 

 to stumps when in full growth, whether they are bored or not. Others 

 will sprout in spite of all medicinal insertions we know of when these 

 are placed in the inner wood of the stump. We believe a stump can 

 be killed by sufficient contact with the inner bark layer of arsenic, 

 bluestone, gasoline, and many other things, but it is not easy to ar- 

 range for such sufficient contact, and it would probably cost more 

 than it would to blow or pull out the stump. One reader, however, 

 assures us that he has killed large eucalyptus stumps by boring three 

 holes in the stump with an inch auger, near the outer rim of the 



