136 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
from big, wild trees that we got from the 
hammiocks. Some of them had no tap 
root and where they did, we dug down 
and cut them off short. We cut the large 
trunks off not over a foot high and cut 
the roots off close up so that a tree with a 
six inch trunk wouldl gO' in a hole eighteen 
inches to two feet across, and those trees 
made strong, healthy and rapid growth 
and were in profitable bearing in three 
years. The nursery trees were budded 
when set, but these were allowed to sprout 
and thien buds were inserted in these 
sprouts after the trees were set in grove 
form. 
I would tell you that it is best to set 
out big trees. “Big” may mean six or 
sixty years old. You can get a fine bear¬ 
ing tree very quickly if you put such out 
when the conditions are favorable, While 
small trees suffer seriously from every 
adverse conolition and it may take several 
years to get them tO’ a fair, bearing con¬ 
dition. 
Mr. Skinner—During the discussion, 
Mr. Mason sat alongside of me, and he 
says there is no question but that cutting 
off the roots will make them grow deeper. 
Mr. Taber—I do not think you can ap¬ 
ply the same ruling to trees of all sizes. 
Mr. Hart mentions citrus trees as being 
transplanted at any sjze, but there are few 
other trees that can be treated like a cit¬ 
rus tree, and live. I claim that a citrus 
root is one of the hardest things in the 
world to kill. Take a peach or pecan tree, 
for instance. Regarclless of the age or 
size of the tree, regardless of the season 
it is put out—Stringfellow just makes the 
sweeping assertion that it should be close¬ 
ly root pruned, which I do not believe is 
always proper or advantageous; and that 
is the reason why I say that one should 
be careful to designate What he is talking 
about. If you put out trees at the begin¬ 
ning of the dormant season, you can suc¬ 
cessfully transplant a larger tree and you 
can prune the roots harder than you can 
at the time when growth should com¬ 
mence. He makes no exceptions at all. 
Mr. Hollingsworth—Mr. Hart, were 
not those trees you spoke of transplanted 
on very damp soil ? 
Mr. Hart—They were transplanted in 
any kind of soil. In some places it was 
eleven feet to water, and in others the 
ground was cowered with water a good 
deal of the time. 
No. ii-^Can anyone advise concern¬ 
ing the soap tree, how it is planted and 
What distance apart? Why does not the 
California Pepper tree fruit here? 
Mr. Stevens—I have seen a soap tree 
growing wild around Orange Lake. That 
is the only place I have ever seen one in 
Florida. 
Mr. Painter—The soap berry tree has 
been grown near Tallahassee for years. 
No. 12—I would like to ask why the 
olive tree grows finely here, but does not 
bear any crop? 
Prof. Rolfs— That is a question that is 
as yet unsolved. 
Mr. Wakelin—We have an olive tree 
on our place. It bloomed very heavily 
and when I left home for the North it had 
small green olives. When I came back 
they had all fallen off, except a fev/ dried 
up specimens. This year it has had no 
bloom. 
Mr. Hampton—^The olive tree has been 
talked over a long while, and some seem 
to think they won’t bear, and some con- 
