CITRUS TREES AND THEIR DISEASES 13 



it might be termed the house in which the life of every 

 living thing is housed. 



LIFE OF THE TREE 



The writer only asks you to refer to himself for 

 the explanation ; my body represents my life, the body 

 of my tree represents the life of that tree. You will 

 also agree with me that the tree has two distinct agen- 

 cies. The important agency I term as the receiving 

 agency; where the main roots intersect the base of 

 the tree. These base roots are scientifically termed 

 the lateral roots, and support the hair-like feeders that 

 search the soil for the different elements of goodness 

 for the welfare of the tree. 



These base roots, according to the book of nature, 

 should grow in proportion to the spread of the branch- 

 es ; then they should dip downward and extend further 

 into the center or midway of the rows. Now trees are 

 like children; when in infancy the tree can be trained 

 to please the grower, or in other words, the nursery- 

 man can grow the tree during the life of the nursery 

 row to please his ideas. When planted in the grove, 

 then it becomes the pleasure of the grower to train 

 that tree according to his ideas. 



We can train the roots to follow along the sur- 

 face if we so desire, or we can train them to dip deep 

 into the earth if we so desire. This method of train- 

 ing will be explained further on in this book where 

 the writer speaks of cultivation and proper root 

 training. 



