Pruning fruit Trees. 
By Ulendell Paddock. 
Handling Young Trees: —The writer has been impressed, 
when visiting the various fruit districts of the state, by the lack of 
knowledge on the part of many growers of the requirements of 
young trees. No doubt a large majority of our fruit growers come 
to the state with no experience in the business and so have every¬ 
thing to learn, and surely no part of orchard management is more 
important than to start the young trees just right. On this depends 
not only the future usefulness of the orchard but in many instances 
large numbers of young trees fail to live through the first season 
foAhe simple reason that the trees were not properly started. In 
several instances the Experiment Station has been asked to investi¬ 
gate the cause of the dying of newly planted trees, and on visiting 
the orchard it was found that the trees were planted just as they 
had been received from the nursery. No doubt some of them had 
been injured somewhat by exposure and improper care but with the 
best of treatment it is difficult for the mutliated root system of a 
transplanted tree to establish itself and at the same time support a 
vigorous or overgrown top. 
It is not generally realized that when a tree is taken from the 
nursery row, a large portion of the root system is left in the ground. 
The balance between the roots and the top is thus destroyed and 
obviously a part of the top should be removed. Practically all of 
the elements which nourish and build up a tree, save one, are taken 
from the soil by the roots in liquid form. This material is carried 
in the cell sap mostly through the outer sap wood to the leaves. 
Here the crude food is changed by the influence of the sun light 
and the green substance of the leaves to a form that can be readily 
assimilated by the plant. This will illustrate, briefly, how impor¬ 
tant the roots are to a plant. Much of this elaborated food may be 
stored in the cells, especially in the fall, to be drawn upon at any 
time that the roots fail to supply the requisite amount. In trans¬ 
planting, the nursery tree is often deprived of one-half or more of 
its roots, and not only must it become established in the soil but it 
must produce a large number of new roots before much new food 
can be supplied. In the meantime the leaves begin to push out 
