162 The Principles of Fruit-growing. 
spread of the top was six feet; but the roots le 
just underneath the surface. This land could not 
be plowed without great injury to the tree. Let 
us consider the relation 
of this tree to moisture: 
the roots are in the dri- \ 
est part of the soil; the 
grass is pumping out the 
water and locking it up 
in its own tissues and 
sending it into the at- 
mosphere with great ra- 
pidity ; the soil is baked, 
and pulls up the water 
by capillary attraction and 
discharges it into the air; 
there is no tillage to stop 
this waste by spreading 
a mulch of loose and dry 
soil over the earth. If 
Fig. 18. Roots of a young apple tree in rich tilled land. 
one were to sink a well under this tree and were 
to erect a windmill and pump, he could not so 
completely deprive the tree of moisture! And the 
