68 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
ly knows, answer this if they can. I 
am of the opinion that the leaves them¬ 
selves do not absorb moisture. 
Mr. Gillett—I think I made that state¬ 
ment. Of course, you know I am a lay¬ 
man and do not pretend to scientific 
knowledge. Let’s hear from the profes¬ 
sor. 
Dr. Richardson—I take it from the 
gentlemen who made the remark that 
the water as applied to the foliage washed 
off the dust and dirt and permitted the 
leaves to have healthy action. It simply 
put the leaves in condition so that they 
could discharge their proper functions. 
Mr. Temple—I cannot give you the 
book, page or paragraph where the re¬ 
mark was made that the overhead spray 
would feed the tree so much water, but 
I turned to Mr. Stevens and said that the 
scientists agree that the leaves of the tree 
do not absorb any moisture; that the)? 
simply breathe for the tree. I am sure 
authorities on the subject raise no ques¬ 
tion about this. 
Mr. Member—Well, it seems to me 
that if the leaves do not absorb moisture 
that it would be better to supply the 
water through laterals. It takes power 
to put water up fifteen feet in the air. It 
certainly would be cheaper. 
Mr. Gibbs—The practical effect of put¬ 
ting water up in the tree is just as good 
and as great a benefit to the tree whether 
the leaves absorb the moisture or whether 
it protects the leaves and enables it to 
hold its tree moisture from evaporation. 
The benefit is just the same in either 
case, so what’s the odds? 
Dr. Berger—I would like to briefly 
sum up some advantages in applying the 
water to the leaves. In the first place, it 
washes the tree; that has been admitted 
to be one advantage. It will, no doubt, 
wash off some of the soot in case white 
fly is present. It will, no doubt, also 
destroy the red spider. It will retard 
the development of fungus diseases, of 
scale insects and whitefly. So we have 
four advantages in applying the water to 
the leaves. 
Mr. Gillett—I am the one who made 
the statement that the trees absorb water 
through the leaves, and am free to ad¬ 
mit that I am ignorant on the subject. At 
the same time, I still contend that clean¬ 
ing the leaves off must be of great ad¬ 
vantage to the tree. I know I had much 
rather take a bath all over than to dip 
only my feet in the water. 
