1 68 THE NEW HORTICULTURE. 



nice clean stems as straight as an arrow. While I had no 

 fear of their not keeping ahead of the balance of the row, 

 about four feet high and as large as my thumb, still, when I 

 came to fertilize all, I gave these two a double dose of cotton- 

 seed meal. Well, to cut the story short, in spite of all I 

 could do in the way of annual fertilizing and absolutely clean 

 culture, from that time until a year ago, when my health 

 failed from overwork and I sold the place, the figures given 

 above tell the tale of too much root. The tree that had six 

 feet of root is half the size of the one that had three, and the 

 latter is less than half the size of the balance of the row 

 that had no roots at all. But both of the smaller trees are 

 of nice shape, perfectly healthy, and the smallest a real 

 beauty, and from it I took the hint as to how the Japanese 

 worked the dwarfing trick. Those who wish to try it might 

 start with, say, a live oak acorn or other tree seed in a small 

 pot of sand or poor soil. At the end of the season shift to a 

 size or two larger, shaking off all the soil and leaving on all 

 the roots and top. This alone would dwarf it greatly, but if 

 repeated the second year much more so. How often this 

 transplanting with roots and tops entire would be necessary 

 experience alone could demonstrate. Now the question is, 

 could this be utilized for dwarfing apples, pears, cherries, 

 etc., in small areas where desirable, and the trees maintain 

 their health? Judging from the health of the small cotton- 

 wood described above, I believe it could, providing the trees 

 were never pruned when at rest, and the roots never dis- 

 turbed. Any two or three-year apple or other tree can 

 certainly be permanently dwarfed by a single transplanting, 

 if taken up with several feet of root and reset with a large 

 part of the top, taking care to spread the roots out laterally, 

 as directed in the books. 



