

CLOSE ROOT-PRUNING. 85 



seryman, setting me down for a crank or fool, packed the 

 vines, top, roots and all, in three immense bales, weighing 

 1,300 pounds, for which he got a special rate, and yet they 

 cost me sixty-seven dollars charges. I pruned and packed 

 them in a single bale weighing 227 pounds, shipping them 

 250 miles, after which they were set by being simply stuck 

 down into shallow, pulverized ground and tramped, the whole 

 operation taking but two days. Every vine grew, and the 

 next summer, the third year, I expect to ship grapes by the 

 car load. It would be hard to estimate how many hundreds 

 of thousands of dollars are annually paid by planters to rail- 

 roads, in charges on worse than useless tops, roots and 

 packing. 



4. Thousands of dollars will be saved in the plant- 

 ing. Instead of large holes, and spreading out of roots, 

 working in the soil by hand, etc., as now practiced, the 

 planter will prepare his ground, stretch a strong line, with 

 tags tied at the right intervals, make a small hole with a 

 dibble a couple of inches in diameter, stick the trees down 

 the proper distance, and when a row is done turn back and 

 tramp thoroughly. This is very important. 



5. Another most important advantage is, that by this 

 method we reduce to a minimum the danger of spreading all 

 kinds of diseases and insect pests, such as eel-worm, root 

 tumor, scales, root-lice, etc. These are mostly found on 

 the tops or long roots. 



6. It enables the planter to set extra-large trees, which 

 the nurseryman now has to throw away, and thus obtain 

 fruit much sooner. 



I will now repeat directions for root-pruning. Hold the 

 tree top down, and cut all roots back to about an inch, slop- 

 ing the cuts so that when the tree is set the cut surface is 

 downwards. Experience has shown that the roots are gene- 

 rally emitted perpendicularly to the plane, or surface of the 

 cut. This final pruning should be done shortly before plant- 

 ing, so as to present a fresh surface for the callus to form on. 

 If trees are to be kept some time, or shipped by a nursery- 

 man, about two inches of root should be left, the planter to 



