78 THE NEW HORTICULTURE. 



has twice as much root as those had. But what shall I say 

 of the great, deep, penetrating roots they had struck ! The 

 tree I hold shows exactly the character of their root system, 

 though it has several large roots broken off in digging from 

 the hard-pan pipe-clay subsoil, and the photograph by no 

 means does justice to the size of the ends of the roots next 

 to the floor, which were from the size of a knitting needle to 

 a wheat-straw, showing plainly they had gone far deeper. In 

 fact, I am confident that could all of that tree's roots have 

 been taken up, the extreme length would have been as great 

 as the top, which had to be bent and broken down for photo- 

 graphing, and measured eleven feet. I wish particularly to 

 emphasize the fact that this tree was grown on stiff, black, 

 waxy soil, broken about four inches deep, having a hard-pan 

 yellow pipe-clay subsoil, that positively defies a spade. And 

 yet we find pages in the books about the absolute necessity 

 for a deeply plowed and subsoiled bed for trees, to enable 

 their roots to take hold, forgetting that hard and soft are 

 relative terms, and ground as hard as a rock to us is as soft 

 as butter to a close root-pruned tree. 



But a little more about that lot of trees. By this time 

 people began to talk and investigate, and wild rumors of fab- 

 ulous Le Conte pear crops and profits over in Georgia found 

 their way over here. That fall I sold nearly every tree I 

 had, and, having found out this easy method of planting, I 

 hastened to spread the glad tidings, as well as to ''butcher" 

 the tree roots in digging. Frank had a weather eye for an 

 easy job, and when I said, "Dig with short roots," he was 

 quick to obey, and we hustled them out in a hurry. But 

 when I came to deliver, I found that I had made a big mis- 

 take, for talk as eloquently as I would about the virtue of 

 short roots, and with the trees in my hands to demonstrate 

 its truth, I actually had several parties refuse to buy, and had 

 to guarantee nearly all I did sell to grow. This wound up 

 my efforts as a close root-pruned tree propagandist for some 

 time, and while knowing they were worse than useless, to my 

 great disgust, I was compelled to dig with all the roots pos- 

 sible. In fact, so disheartening were my efforts for a number 



