50D 



NA TURE 



[February 25, 1909 



Baker has derived new elements for the orbit of B Aquilse, 

 which he gives and discusses in No. 7, vol. i., of the 

 Publications of the Allegheny Observatory. These elements 

 show the eccentricity of the orbit to be 0-685 ±0011, ^""l 

 •the period of the binary to be 17.117 + 00042 days. From 

 observations made in 1901-2, M. Deslandres found a period 

 of 167 days, and Mr. Baker ascribes the difference to an 

 actual change of the period ; the 

 eccentricity is also probably variable. 



makes no difference by what criterion the trees are judged; 

 planting in this new way gives better results than plant- 

 ing in the orthodox fashion. 



When a new fact is established by scientific experiment 

 that no longer fits in with the old practical formula which 

 has hitherto sufficed to cover all cases, there is invariably 

 a cry raised about the antagonism of theory (or science) 



'lliE PLAXTING OF FRUIT 



TREES.' 

 A/TR. PICKERING is playing no 

 new part when, in the recently 

 issued report of the Woburn Fruit 

 Farm, he appears as the demolishcr 

 of cherished convictions concerning so 

 fundamental and practical a matter as 

 tree planting. It is an article of faith 

 among fruit-growers that fruit trees 

 must be planted in a certain special 

 way if success is to be obtained. The 

 soil is properly prepared, a large hole 

 is made, wjde, but not deep, the roots 

 are carefully spread out in all direc- 

 tions and arranged near the surface, 

 with a slight upward bearing at the 

 ends. The soil is filled in with many 

 precautions. Small quantities of the 

 finer soil are first worked in among 

 the roots, hollow places caused by 

 archings in the stouter roots are filled 

 up, and then the rest of the soil is 



.put in, trodden carefully down, and the whole left to the 

 •compacting influence of the rain. The tree is supported 

 by stakes until it is sufficiently firmly established. 



All this, according to the report before us, is precisely 

 wrong ; it is all exactly the opposite of what it should be. 

 The proper way to plant a tree is to make a small hole, 

 to double the roots up anyhow and stick the tree in, throw 

 in the soil, and ram it down as hard as if one were fixing 

 a gate-post. The experiments seem convincing enough. 



They have been made at Woburn, Harpenden, Bedford, 

 various places in Cambridgeshire, and in Devonshire ; 

 5g per cent.' of the sets showed in favour of ramming, 

 37 per cent, showed no difference (i.e. all the elaborate 

 detail of the ordinary way of planting was simply a waste 

 of time), and only 14 per cent, were against ramming. It 



' Ninth report of the Woburn Experimental Fruit Farm, by the Duke of 

 Bsdford, K.G., F.R.S., and Spencer U. Pickering, F.K..S. 



Fig. 2. — M.irie Lojise. 



and practice. This has duly happened in the present case. 

 But no practical man has been able to give any reason for 

 the faith that is in him beyond the fact that it is sanctioned 

 by established custom ; these appear to bo the first serious 

 experiments on the subject, and they do not seem to be 

 vitiated by any constant error. Examination of the trees 

 shows that ramming has led to a copious development 

 of fibrous roots ; the photographs here reproduced give an 

 idea, though not an adequate one, of this effect. Direct 

 experiments showed that the fibrous 

 and small roots produced in the 

 nursery before lifting play no great 

 part as roots during the subsequent 

 lifi' of the tree; the important point 

 is to induce fresh root formation, 

 and ramming does this more rapidly 

 than the orthodox method of plant- 

 in jj. No harm was done, and some- 

 times even good resulted, when the 

 old roots were deliberately damaged 

 before planting. 



It is to be hoped that these ex- 

 periments may be continued on fruit 

 soils of various types. Both the 

 llrupenden and Ridgemont soils are 

 heavier than the typical fruit soils 

 of Kent ; it would be interesting to 

 sec how ramming works on the 

 brick earths, Thanct and Lower 

 (ireensand formations, where so much 

 of our fruit is grown. 



The reports issued from the 



W'cjburn Fruit Farm are always 



interesting, because they deal with 



fundamental problems of universal 



importance, and not merely with 



local matters. No fruit-grower could 



afford to make experiments himself on anything like 



the scale on which they are carried out at Woburn ; and 



fruit-growers everywhere are under an obligation to the 



Duke of Bedford and Mr. Pickering for investigating 



their problems for them and publishing the results in so 



accessible a form. 



E. J. Russell. 



NO. 2052, VOL. 79] 



