34 SCIENCE AND FRUIT GROWING 



results of six years' observations gave an average balance of 5 per 

 cent, in favour of the carelessly planted trees, which, in view 

 of the variations in different seasons, was a negligible quantity. 

 In other sets of experiments deliberate injury to the roots was 

 practised, removing certain fractions of all the roots, these 

 fractions amounting to from one-tenth to seven-tenths of the 

 whole length of the roots. A general view of five series of such 

 experiments, made with dwarf trees of apples, pears and plums, 

 shows that a curtailment of the roots by removing from two- 

 to four-tenths of their length generally results in no injury to the 

 tree indeed, from some points of view, in a slight benefit; but 

 that when this limit is exceeded, the growth is adversely affected. 



The existence of some limit beyond which the tree must suffer 

 from root-injury seems, indeed, self evident, rrerely.from general 

 considerations ; and as these experiments showed that that limit 

 was reached long before the tree was reduced to the form of a 

 bare pole, such as the condition recommended in the Stringfellow 

 method of planting, 1 an examination of the latter method was 

 not undertaken. 



Injury to the roots by breaking them off roughly, as, for in- 

 stance, with a spade, instead of trimming them carefully with a 

 knife, appeared to have but little effect on the subsequent 

 behaviour of a tree. With 42 somewhat old apple trees which 

 were planted after treatment in these two ways, and lifted again 



1 The New Horticulture, by H. M. Stringfellow, Galveston, Tex., 1896. 

 The method of planting consists of reducing the stem to the condition of 

 a bare pole, leaving only 2 or 3 inches of the main roots, and planting 

 firmly in a small hole in the ground. The ground over the roots is hand- 

 weeded at first, and laid down to grass after 4 or 5 years. The present 

 writers have not been able to find a copy of Stringfellow's book in any 

 public or private library in this country, nor to obtain a copy of it from 

 America ; they have, therefore, been dependent on the account of the 

 method given by Richter (Pomologie Nouvelle, Paris, 1912), who himself 

 adopts it, with the modification of leaving 2 or 3 inches of the main branches 

 of the tree, instead of removing them entirely. It appears that both 

 Stringfellow's and Richter's methods are based merely on the " ideas " 

 of the originators, and not on definite experiments. 



Experiments on root-pruning on the " Stringfellow " method were at 

 one time tested in many districts in the United States. The results on 

 the whole were not satisfactory. Unfavourable results were obtained in 

 Alabama (Agric. Expt. Bull. 98, 1898), Delaware (Agric. Expt. Sta. Bull. 

 45. 1899), Nebraska (Agric. Expt. Sta. Bull. 56, 1898), New Jersey (Agric. 

 Expt. Sta. Ann. Rpt. 1901), Oregon (Agric. Expt. Sta. Ann. Rpt. 1901), 

 Rhode Island (Agric. Expt. Sta. Ann. Rpt. 1901), Texas (Agric. Expt. Sta. 

 Bull. 58, 1900). Favourable results with some kinds of trees were obtained 

 in Georgia (Agric. Expt. Sta. Bull. 40, 1898), Indiana (Agric. Expt. Sta. Ann. 

 Rpt. 1896), and Montana (Agric. Expt. Sta. Bull. 24, 1899). 



The severe restriction of the root-system on replanting a tree, and not 

 getting out a large hole for setting it, was advocated early in the eighteenth 

 century by J. Laurence (see A. E. Bunyard, Jour. Roy. Hort. Soc. XL, 420). 



