it is probably as well to plant the one year old trees, but not for the 

 average farmer fruit grower. 



C. J. Tyson. AA^on't we get better trees by planting yearlings ? 



Mr. Lupton. There is not enough difference so that you will 

 notice it in three or four years. I have had no trouble in getting 

 good stands with two year old trees. 



E. P. Garrettson. Do we not get a better root start in yearl- 

 ing trees ? 



Mr. Lupton. That is largely a matter of opinion. I must 

 confess that my success has been better with the larger trees. I 

 have no very great preference but always plant two year olds. Alost 

 of us plant our trees a little too shallow. A tree should be planted 

 to a considerable depth, as they have a tendency to make a deeper 

 root system if so planted. I think that most of us are apt to hurry 

 the job of planting trees. We do not do the work quite well enough. 

 The question is, what is too deep? j\Iy practice has been to plant 

 somewhat deeper than in the nursery, three or four inches deeper. 

 Aly experience in planting Kieffer pears was one of the mistakes 

 I made. I planted them too shallow. The roots grew above the top 

 of the ground. The Kieffer pear is a tree that needs to be planted 

 quite a little deeper than the apple, however. My own experience 

 has taught me to urge deeper planting wherever it is possible to be 

 done. 



The actual selection of the trees is a matter of the greatest im- 

 portance. The time was when we were very much afraid of a dis- 

 ease in the top of the trees. It seems to me we spent too much time 

 and attention in examining the top of the tree and not enough to 

 the roots of the tree. The root of the tree, being in the ground, is 

 lost to sight and whatever is wrong with it is apt to stay wrong. 

 Take extra pains in securing clean stock from the nursery. 



How^ are we to tell whether the trees are sound or not? One 

 of my mistakes was that I selected trees myself. I planted a lot 

 •of trees which I thought were healthy and had to dig them up, 

 I would, therefore, again urge you to be extremely careful. The 

 best way to bring about the selection of trees is through your organi- 

 zation, by paying some expert man to go to the nursery and see 

 that you get good trees. That ought to be the fundamental prin- 

 ciple of your organization. 



W. C. Tyson. ]>efore you plant them do you do any root 

 pruning, and how much ? 



Mr. Lupton. The usual practice in our section, and my pres- 

 ent practice, is not to prune the roots any more than can be helped, 

 If there is a broken root cut that off, but they have usually been 

 pruned sufficiently when taken out of the nursery. Prune the root 

 as little as possible. 



C. S, Griest. Do you use budded or grafted trees? 



Mr. Lupton. I have never used budded trees. There is a 

 wide controversy in the press and amongst nurserymen about j^iece 

 root grafting and whole root grafting. The onlv diff'erence so far 

 as I can see is that the whole root has a longer piece than the piece 

 root. My present plan is to buy the trees from the most reliable 



