AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 475 



soil is a heavy clay loam, and lie finds the roots of liis fruit trees 

 all near the surface. He thinks that tap roots should always be 

 removed. He does not consider the black knot upon plum trees 

 any serious calamity, because they are so easily got rid of by 

 pruning. 



Solon Robinson — Mr. Chairman, I want to ask Mr. Field a 

 question. I want to know how he would treat this tree with the 

 long roots, if about to set it out where it is to grow 1 



Mr. Field — I can best answer that question with my pruning 

 knife. This he did, by cutting back all the new wood to one or 

 two buds, and cutting off about one- third of the roots, with a 

 downwards cut from the inside of each root. In setting it in place 

 I spread out the roots so that they stand like legs, and the cuts fi,t 

 down to the earth.. The roots will then throw out fibres, and 

 they, being near the surface, are ready to receive whatever you 

 are^disposed to feed them. No tree can be found, out of the tap- 

 root family, that will flourish with its roots running deep down in 

 a loose soil. I would recommend setting trees, upon the prairies, 

 upon artificial -ridges. It is not the severity of winter that kills 

 fruit trees — it is the unripe wood, which is easily killed in any 

 weather. 



Mr. Field — Trees planted upon a rich, deep and alluvial soil, 

 throw down long tap roots, without fibres, and in exactly the 

 same ratio grow into tall slim stems, deprived of radial shoots 

 near the ground. On the contrary, a soil suflSciently deep and 

 rich, whose nutritive qualities are divided by coarse sandy or 

 gravelly particles, induces a fibrous growth of roots. These two 

 trees are specimens of each of these effects. The difference is 

 very remarkable. This, grown upon a deep, alluvial soil, has 

 seven long tap-like roots descending nearly three feet into the 

 soil, and almost entirely destitute of fibres. The other grown 

 upon a deeply pulverised coarse sandy soil, with a good supply of 

 manure, has a mass of innumerable fibres. The cause is undoubt- 

 edly due to the complete seration of the soil, effected by the 

 coarse particles of the soil. The impalpable condition of the 

 first forms a compact covering to the root, impenetrable by air, 

 and the root descends in almost right lines. These trees succeed 



