NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



227 



For the Tfrw England Farmer. 

 TAP ROOT OF TREES. 



Mr. Cole : — Sir, — Will you please inform me 

 throurjh your paper what are some of the reasons 

 for destroying the lap root of trees? We are taught 

 by most writers upon the sulyect to cut off the tap 

 root of fruit trees while young, and this instruction 

 is followed in practice by nursery-men. 



I have become convinced by experiments that 

 trees with the tap root preserved will grow faster, 

 endure a drought better, and stand firmer against 

 heavy winds; and from observing trees that were 

 never transplanted, I think they will grow larger, 

 bear better, and live to a greater age. Now if these 

 are facts, the doctrine taugiit is a very serious er- 

 ror, and ought to be corrected. If you will please 

 enlighten us upon this subject, you will oblige your 

 humble servant, Stephen Adams. 



West Ncwfield, Me., June 11. 



Remarks. — There is no advantage to the tree in 

 cutting off the tap root, but it is done as a matter of 

 convenience to the nurseryman ; on the contrary it 

 is a disadvantage to the tree to lose any part of the 

 tap root; but this loss must inevitably occur, in 

 some measure, as a consequence of transplanting. 



A tree that stands where it started from seed, 

 will be more vigoious, healthy, and of greater lon- 

 gevity, than if transplanted, other circumstances be- 

 ing equal. The shortening of tap roots is not a cus- 

 tom merely for the accommodation of nurserymen, 

 but the common result, in some measure, of trans- 

 planting. Sometimes the nurseryman transplants 

 trees twice before they become standards fiit for sale. 

 Perhaps he has stocks to set out only two or three 

 feet high, and the tap roots are from one and a half 

 to two feet long. Now he has a hard shallow soil, 

 and the labor of deeping the soil and opening tren- 

 ches, and setting 8 or 10,000 trees, with their tap 

 roots, the full length, would be great indeed; and 

 if the tap roots continued to extend downward, 

 they could never be taken up entire. Sometimes 

 nurserymen allow trees to remain where they start- 

 ed from seed, and this is often the cheaper way, but 

 such trees are not so saleable. They have long tap 

 roots, but not so good lateral roots as those that 

 have been transplanted; and the purchaser, not in- 

 clined to dig deep holes, dislikes their appearance. 



Another important consideration is the fact that 

 with the greatest care and expense, it is impossible 

 to transplant trees so as to preserve the tap root, 

 and give it the same chance for growth which it 

 has in its native spot. If the point of the tap root, 

 to the extent of only one-eighth of an inch, become 

 broken off, injured or dried, it will not extend down- 

 ward, but become branch, or send off laterals. So 

 in order to have all the advantages wliich nature 

 designed from the tap root of the tree, the seed 

 must be planted where the trees are to stand. 



We have tried in vain to raise handsome, long 

 straight beets by transplanting. We have taken 

 them up when small, and with a spade run below 

 the roots, so that we thought there was no loss or 



injury to any particle of root; and we have set them 

 with the greatest care, opening the soft earth, and 

 carefully laying in the plants with the roots perfect; 

 but generally the root would not continue straight 

 downward, but branch, and form imperfect roots, 

 showinff a great contrast at harvest between those 

 that were transplanted and those that were not. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 CULTURE OF THE CRANBERRY. 



Mr. Editor: — A few weeks since a brief no- 

 tice was given of the upland culture of the cran- 

 berry, by the Messrs. Needham, of Danvers. As 

 the "proof of the pudding is said to be in the eat- 

 ing," so may it be with the cranberry. I have 

 lately received a box of the fruit, grown upon their 

 grounds the last season, longer and fairer than 

 cranberries usually are. They appeared more like 

 ripe cherries than cranberries. * They cooked ten- 

 der, required a moderate proportion of sweetening, 

 and in every respect were superior to the meadow 

 cranberry. 



Whether it will be practicable to extend this 

 culture in a manner to -pay, I am not sufficiently 

 advised to express an opinion. It is certainly true 

 that the cranberry can be grown upon the upland, 

 and that the quality of the fruit is greatly improved 

 by so growing. When the habits of the plant are 

 fully understood, and proper care shall be taken to 

 guard it against the frost of winter, I see no reason 

 why it should not be as successfully cultivated as 

 the strawberry. About one bushel to the square 

 rod of land might thus be raised; — and there can 

 be no doubt, there will ever be a quick market for 

 all that are raised. 



The cranberry is ordinarily found on grounds 

 overflowed by water in the winter. This over- 

 flowing, in a measure, protects it from frosts. 

 Hence the inference has been, that snch overflow- 

 ing was essential to their growth. The experi- 

 ments that we have seen would seem to prove, that 

 a slight covering of meadow hay, or bushes of 

 evergi-een, or other light substances not burden- 

 some to the plants, would be an equally good pro- 

 tection. 



Esteeming the cranberry one of the greatest 

 luxuries for the table, indigenous to our own soil, 

 healthy as well as palatable, I have thought a 

 circulation of the above facts, relating to its cul- 

 ture, might awaken attention to the subject. 

 Heretofore, usually plants have been transferred 

 from the meadow to the upland; but if they could 

 be raised from seed, or taken from nurseries, as 

 are the plants of the strawberry, it is apparent that 

 they would be best adapted to their position. Strict 

 care in this, as in other cultures, should be had to 

 exclude all weeds and meddlesome grasses. P. 



Danvers, June 20, 1851. 



Remarks. — Cranberries grown on high land are 

 hard and firm, and keep far better than those raised 

 on wet land; and yet they cook soft and are of the 

 finest quality. We picked a quart of cranberries 

 of spontaneous growth on a poor gravelly ridge, 

 and set them in a closet in a room that w as kept 

 warm through the winter, day and night. The 

 next spring almost every one w"is sound, and had 



