50 SCIENCE AND FRUIT GROWING 



flourish best in its -new surroundings, but from what has been 

 seen as to the behaviour of tree-stocks when planted at a con- 

 siderable depth (p. 38), it is clear that the tree will have little 

 difficulty in adjusting itself to these surroundings, either by 

 the 'extension of some of the older roots, or by the development 

 of new roots at that level where root-action is most vigorous. 

 Whether the tree ever alters its depth in the soil by movement 

 as a whole, may be doubted; numerous cases where roots are 

 found to be partially above ground are probably explicable by 

 the denudation of the soil from above them ; a sinking of the 

 tree is more likely to occur : this is the explanation given of 

 the fact that the Cowthorpe Oak, which in 1700 measured 78 feet 

 in circumference at ground level, now measures only 54 feet 

 3 inches. Measurements made in 1904 of the apple-trees 

 planted at Ridgmont ten years previously indicated a general 

 sinking of i to 2 inches : but definite evidence on such a point 

 could not be obtained in the absence of observations made by 

 means of bench marks on the trees. Certain it is, however, that 

 a tree will adjust itself within moderate limits, either by direct 

 or indirect processes, to the most suitable level for growth in the 

 soil, and the behaviour of trees planted either 4 inches too high, 

 or 4 inches too low, as judged by the nursery collar mark, has 

 been found to be practically identical (V, 76). In another case, 

 there were records extending over eight years of 84 trees, where 

 half of them had been planted at the ordinary level, and half 

 of them at the surface level with their roots n ounded over with 

 earth. The object of the experiment was the investigation of 

 the effect of high planting on the behaviour of the tree towards 

 canker, but its effect on the general growth of the tree was also 

 recorded, and, on the whole, was decidedly the reverse of bene- 

 ficial, for in only one season out of the eight was there any balance 

 in the favour of the trees on mounds, a deficiency amounting to 

 an average of 22 per cent, being observed in the other seven 

 years. No connection was traceable between the behaviour of 

 the trees and the rainfall in successive years (XV, 42), and it is 

 not justifiable, therefore, to recommend such high planting so 

 far as the general welfare of the trees is concerned even in 

 localities where the rainfall is heavy. 



The great advantage gained in the case of paradise stocks 

 by planting them at an abnormal depth below the surface has 

 been described (p. 38), and means were sought whereby these 

 results might be put to practical use in the raising of trees on 

 this stock. To bury the stocks two feet below the surface 



