1904 
Hope Farm Notes 
“Stringfbllow Trees.”—I have made 
several references to trees planted on 
what is called the Stringfellow plan, but 
have never before offered a fair statement 
of results. The experiment is not yet 
fully settled except in some details, but I 
will tell how far it has gone. I want to 
be very careful about this statement, for 
I would not v, ’.lingly set anyone wrong, 
or have anyone mistake an experiment for 
an established fact. I never saw H. M. 
Stringfellow, but became impressed after 
reading his book, “The New Horticulture,” 
that the system he advocates would suit 
the conditions found on my farm. As 
none of the experiment stations seemed 
willing to try the method on anything like 
a practical scale, I determined to plant a 
large number of trees with various modi¬ 
fications of the system so as to give it a 
practical test. I will say here that Mr. 
Stringfellow put in my hands the plates 
and an edition of “The New Horticulture” 
to handle as I saw fit. I first bought 700 
June-budded peach trees which were cut 
severely back at the nursery. They came 
late in the season, and were cut back to 
about 12 or 15 inches of top, and all the 
side roots cut off so as to leave a stem 
below ground as smooth as a lead pencil. 
As trimmed they were put into a bucket 
of water and carried in this to the holes. 
The field was first staked off 18 feet each 
way. Then with an ordinary crowbar 
holes were punched in the sod 10 inches or 
more in depth. Prom an old woodchuck’s 
hole sand was scooped up, and the method 
of planting was as follows: The little tree 
was put down in the center of the hole 
and some of the sand sifted down around 
it to hold it upright. Then sand and 
water were poured around the little tree 
until the hole was full; when it w-as packed 
firm and solid. The object of this was to 
exclude air from the bottom of the root, 
and pack the sand solidly around the sides 
so that when the roots did start they 
would come from the bottom of the root 
in much the same way that a cutting 
starts. Of course this work w r as rapidly 
done and cost but little. 
Tite Field; Card.—T he field is an old 
abandoned brush heap at the back of the 
farm, it is very light and stony, and had 
not been plowed for 30 years, as far as 
1 can learn. The soil where these peach 
trees are planted is so poor that only a 
fov coarse weeds will grow. A scatter¬ 
ing growth of cedars and birches covers 
part of the field, while the rest is quite 
thickly covered with brush and small trees. 
The field was not cleared except that the 
brush was mowed where the trees stand. 
1 planted the trees in this crude, rough 
way because I wanted to test the peach 
under the hardest .conditions. The experts 
have clearly shown what high cultivation 
and heavy feeding on cleared land will do. 
Can a man without large capital or com¬ 
petent help, and mostly by the labor of his 
own hands, raise good fruit on rough land? 
l hat seems to me one of the most import¬ 
ant questions connected with fruit grow¬ 
ing. It is what I started out to answer. 
I had agreed with Mr. Stringfellow to hoe 
around these trees several times during 
the season, to fertilize them well and to 
cut grass and brush to throw around them 
as a mulch. As the trees started to grow 
I became interested in another side of it, 
and I decided to let them shift for them¬ 
selves and try the original experiment 
elsewhere. I therefore let most of those 
trees alone until June, then hoed around 
them and gave each a small handful of 
fertilizer. I will admit that I tried hard 
to kill them with neglect, except a few 
which were handled as I agreed. Part of 
these trees were Mountain Rose, which 
had put out their leaves before we could 
Plant them. We pruned these forward 
trees as we did the others, and lost nearly 
flJ of them. I have since learned that 
this entire root-pruning will not answer 
when the trees are so far advanced. Of 
the trees with dormant buds not half a 
dozen died, 'l'hey were slow to start, 
and sent out shoots from the lower 
buds. We dug up 30 or more at different 
times to study their root growth. In every 
case the bottom of the root had callused 
over and little tap roots had formed, 
which started straight down into the soil 
I he ordinary branched or surface roots 
which are found when a tree with long 
roots is set in a large hole were not found 
on these little trees. Later in their growth 
a mass of feeding roots appear, and run 
out all over the upper soil. These trees 
made, without any question, a deeper root- 
"ig system than the ones I planted with 
long roots in large holes. This was to be 
expected, since there was no chance for 
>e first roots to go anywhere save straight 
down. These neglected trees headed close 
the fir 5 r ° Und and made a fair growth 
the first season. The Summer was very 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
21? 
dry, I had een assured by good peach 
growers that trees so closely pruned would 
not start, and could not endure the hot 
season. That was the chief reason I 
neglected most of them—in order that the 
system might be tried under the worst 
possible conditions as well as under more 
favorable ones. In the Fall we planted 
larger trees in the places where the Moun¬ 
tain Rose trees had died. These we also 
close root-pruned. The trees had no pro¬ 
tection through the Winter. In the Spring 
about 20 of the small ones were thrown 
out by the frost. There being no side roots 
to anchor them the lift of the freeze in the 
upper surface of the soil pulled them 
gradually up until the roots were enough 
exposed to dry out. I now know that had 
these trees been fertilized and mulched or 
hoed as Mr. Stringfellow desired they 
W'ould have made more growth so that 
when properly banked for Winter they 
would not have been lifted by the frost. 
1 he next year the trees made a good fop 
close to the ground. Here another trouble 
developed. The winds on this hill are very 
strong, whirling around through on open¬ 
ing in the woods. The close-pruned trees, 
without brace roots, whirled about until 
holes were made af the base, much like a 
large funnel. In some cases the trees lay 
flat on the ground, and one produced a 
few peaches in this position. I have left 
about 50 trees in the brush with absolutely 
no attention whatever. They are now 
mere little runts. This year I shall clean 
them up, keep them well hoed and fer¬ 
tilize them heavily. My object is to see if 
a runt tree is like a runt oalf— incapable 
of good growth or profitable response to 
feeding. I will also add that I intend to 
leave 1,000 frees to head out as they please 
simply removing ingrowing or conflict¬ 
ing branches. 
What About I T ?-What can be said of 
this plan of planting trees .without any 
sale roots in crowbar holes? From my ex¬ 
perience I conclude that trees will certain- 
Jy . ‘ ve when Properly planted in this way. 
1 h me th ey root deeper and head lower 
than trees with long roots in large holes 
I am quite sure of this. They make a 
slower growth the first season, but when 
u y established make wood enough for 
practical purposes. This method of plant¬ 
ing is rapid and cheap. The chief disad- 
™"! age ® that occur to me are as follows: 
likliv , the , sma " crowbar hole you are 
•K* *1 fi ™ ry c “°» 
root. While 1 think the tree without anv 
side roots and packed in a small hole will 
root deeper, It is better in our practice to 
leave stubs from one to two inches long 
at the side. This anchors the tree firmlv 
j a the soil It will not be whirled about 
by the wind or lifted by the frost. True 
the young tree might be staked until the 
side roots are firmly started, but that is 
not practical on a large scale or the plan 
I have m mind, r have decided therefore 
v? oav o short side roots on the trees and 
dig small holes with a spade so that we 
lThn P n C r i) he AT bts c, in Otherwise 
Hoii‘ ' r,,llow , Ml ;- Stringfellow’s methods 
closely, except that while he advocates 
cultivation, until the tree comes in bear- 
ing, I expect to mulch from the first and 
use fertilizer. Rut This is another story 
which we will tell later. y 
larger P neT?W 86 shows one 0{ the 
h if in h' h r r n eS planted in a crowbar 
nnifaA l he tf a11 ’ after other trees were 
r >e tlf 1 ^- 8 V ShOVVS the HUOVVth this 
tiet. made the first season after planting 
around . mulched” by piling a few stones 
around it and had no fertilizer. Fig 87 
..hows the same tree with its clothes on. 
is, as you will see, a low-headed bush 
Its wood is firm and solid. It made a 
slow, gentle growth and has put out a fair 
setting of fruit buds, which are now mostly 
abve. I shall let it produce a few peaches 
tree 85 shows a June-budded 
I !iu d 111 a crowbar hole in good 
sou. it has never been cultivated but 
agRn y wbh T? d ° 11Ce with manure ami 
see vviT, n C ", t grass ‘ U is Quite easy to 
see what this tree would have come to had 
R been headed high and fed. These trees 
will give an idea of what I have in mind 
on this windy and rocky hillside. 1 prefer 
low-down chunky bushes which can be 
pr uned with a knite and picked and sprayed 
ir° gToluui * By crowding such trees 
r i t and thinning the fruit se- 
verely I think we can make an acre of onr 
pool land pay well. Experienced peach 
growers tell me that the plan will fail be 
nn U ?hA d “ n °t set wood growth enough 
on the tiees. they favor forcing the trees 
to large growth and then cutting half of 
it oft. I hey ought to know, but I am go¬ 
ing ahead to find out what is best for our 
rol !?. h J and - The picture at Fig. S8 shows 
a Kielfer pear and a peach tree as they 
came from the nursery and how similar 
ones were trimmed for planting. These 
trees were planted on poor soil in spade 
tYie‘Tonm th A h ° dirt Ponded hard about 
the roots. A space about three feet in 
?i iaaieter , was hoed around them three 
time;, and about a pound of high-grade 
f< rtilizer scattered around each one. Weeds 
Rmm brU i Sh , , Wt o e cut an<1 thrown around 
ttum. Last Spring was very hard on 
nemof I''T’ yet handled in this way both 
peach and pear sent out several shoots 
fiom two to three feet long. I have noth¬ 
ing that could be called rich land on the 
bills where we are planting trees I in- 
, t ,t ad , T to use fertilizer in fair quantities 
until 1 can get a fair catch of grass On 
some fields I do not expect to obtain a sod 
but shall fertilize the trees and cut weeds 
and brush to throw around them. I shall 
ten of our experience in apple planting 
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