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whole orchard area ought to be. They show that when the 

 advancing root -system of the tree has got through the poor 

 thirsty dozen cubic feet of decent soil in its hole, it reaches 

 the compact earth walls around it and progress is barred. 

 If the feeding tips force their way in, there is little or no 

 air, and they cease to respire freely. If they coil back 

 upon the loose earth in the hole, they find it impoverished, 

 for it is their leavings of former years. Of course the 

 trees' demands are just as great as ever, but the stifled 

 rootlets in the hard untrenched soil, and the famished ones 

 ia the hole-space cannot supply them. Then follows a 

 lingering period of death, more or less drawn out according 

 to circumstances. The young wood of the year dies back 

 in the dry summer, making the well-known appearance 

 atop that gardeners have likened to stag's horns. The leaves 

 drop before their natural time. The fruit, if any, is small, 

 dry and worthless. Branch after branch dries out, smitten 

 with sheer famine, till the end comes. This fatal error of 

 insufficiently trenching up land meant for orchard purposes, 

 and relying on the contents of small artificial pits, is one of 

 the two reasons why Cape fruit trees are so short-lived. The 

 other reason is not far to seek, being dependent upon the 

 same series of facts regarding the mechanical condition 

 of the soil. Let us look back at the diagram representing 

 a feeding root-hair as it feels its way among the congenial 

 mixture of earth-particles, water-films and air. Carry the 

 idea it represents over to a Cape fruit-tree planted in a hole 

 the size of a 3 x 3 x 3 feet packing case, and surrounded 

 by compact unworked ground. It is our turn to "have 

 the water." Well, we run it on the depression round the 

 tree. In half-an-hour the hollow is full. Bubbles of air 

 keep pointing up in the pool. Now pray call to mind the 

 diagram representing the conditions demanded for healthy 

 root-life. Look at the large air-spaces. Then consider 

 that by filling that three-foot hole with water till it stands 

 above like a pool every bubble of the vital air has been 

 drowned out and forced to ascend and escape at the sur- 

 face. What should be full of air is now full of water. 

 The roots are completely immersed and their respiration is 

 stopped. Fortunately, this state of things does not last 

 long. Even the most compact clays slowly absorb water, 



