THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
128 
they had formed. We all know that most nursery trees have 
one-sided roots, difficult to replant, and in our clay soils they 
spread out close to the surface in growing and are constantly 
torn by the plow, producing innumerable sprouts. In the 
Stringfellow method, this is all changed ; the pruned trees 
throw out three or four strong roots from each stub, which 
strike diagonally down into the soil. 1 hose which I dug to 
exhibit at Newberg had grown roots down into this heavy clay 
soil over four feet, penetrating the hard pan and throwing out 
hundreds of little rootlets, but none grew near the surface, 
hence out of reach of the plow. A more perfect and sym¬ 
metrical root system could not be formed. 
I am confident that if plum stock is used for our prune trees, 
care being taken to cut away the buds at the union when prun¬ 
ing the roots for planting under this system, no sprouting will 
follow, thus eliminating the principal objection to the use of 
plum stock for prunes, which stock is conceded hardiest, nat¬ 
ural and most suited to our moist, clay soils. No sprouts 
occurred on those trees I experimented with. 
“ As to what aged tree is best adapted for this method, I could 
see no difference whatever, the three-year-old trees making 
the same perfect root system as the one-and two-year-old, nor 
was there any difference as to the stock on which they were 
grafted. The only difference was that the three-year pear and 
cherry trees set some fruit, which matured nicely. If I were 
planting a new orchard I would certainly use the Stringfellow 
method of root pruning.” 
A GEORGIA EXPERIMENT. 
H. N. Starnes, at the Georgia Experiment Station, experi¬ 
mented with apple, cherry and peach. An extract from his 
report follows : 
“ The root-pruned trees made fewer, deeper, larger and more 
robust roots ; the unpruned, a mat of small laterals, like a 
great dishmop. The depth of penetration for the roots formed 
by the root-pruned apple tree shown in photograph was, for 
instance 17^ inches against inches for the unpruned tree. 
This year the two-year-old experimental peach orchard, 
planted in dibble holes, will now average 12 to 15 feet in 
height, and bore an enormous crop the past summer. Whether 
or not Stringfellow’s methods ultimately become universally 
adopted, they cannot, in view of the various successful tests 
in which they have figured, be any longer criticised as vision¬ 
ary or ridiculed and so dismissed. The Stringfellow theory 
has now gone beyond this point, and must be treated with the 
respect which its grave importance to the fruit grower de¬ 
mands.” 
Commenting on these and other experiments, the Country 
Gentleman, Albany, N. Y., says : 
“ This short pruning, or so-called Stringfellow method, is 
likely to work best in southern localities, and in light, loose, 
fast soils. It gives best results with peaches, Japanese plums 
and apricots, about in the order named. It is more apt to be 
successful when stocks like Marianna or Myrobolan plum are 
used which grow as cuttings. The main thing, however, is to 
have a good, sound, vigorous tree when it comes from the 
nursery. Cutting and patching a weakly, scrubby tree does 
not pay.” 
THE APOLOGY ACCEPTED. 
J. F. Martin, Winfield, Kan. —“We cannot get along without 
your valuable journal. Our failure to remit is due only to neglect, 
Enclosed find $ 2 ,” 
LOCAL NURSERIES. 
Upon a subject of general interest among nurserymen, the 
Country Gentleman says: 
“ There is a good deal of prejudice in favor of local nurse¬ 
ries. One constantly hears the opinion that an orchardist in 
Ontario should not plant trees from a southern locality, like 
Maryland (supposing he could get them !) or that an Iowa man 
should eschew nursery stock grown in Alabama. According 
to our observation,which has been somewhat varied and exten¬ 
sive, there is absolutely nothing in this notion so far as 
the success of young nursery stock is concerned. There 
is always an advantage in dealing with a local nurseryman, 
in that he has a local reputation to sustain, he is accessi¬ 
ble, and he can be held to his bargain better than a man in 
some distant state. Freight is sometimes saved, too, by buy¬ 
ing of a local nursery, though not often. 
“ But the idea that young trees suffer by being unaccus¬ 
tomed to their mew surroundings seems to us insufficiently 
founded on fact. Trees brought from a distance unquestion¬ 
ably have to undergo some degree of readjustment; but there 
is no more reason to suppose that this acclimatization process 
is deleterious to the health and vigor of the tree than to sup¬ 
pose that it is an advantage. We have personally observed a 
number of instances in point and they all support the opinion 
here expressed. 
“We are aware that many horticulturists hold a different 
opinion, and we have no doubt that some of them can cite 
facts on their side ; but in general this notion seems to be 
grounded on prejudice and not on observation.” 
DIGGING TREES BY STEAM. 
The Perry, O., Forum has the following description of the 
digging of trees by steam power, and incidently praise for 
the soil of Perry township: 
“To a firm like L. Green, Son & Co., when the shipping 
season begins, it is a continual rush until the season is over 
and the orders filled. They ship in carload lots, their stock 
going to nearly every state in the Union, hence the necessity 
of quick work in filling their orders which often come by wire 
making it necessary to load several cars in as many hours. To 
take trees out of the ground, pack in boxes and load in cars is 
no small matter, yet they have always filled their orders until 
this fall, when to their regret it was simply an impossibility to 
get cars fast enough to supply the demand, hence several large 
orders were canceled. In order to f militate matters at this 
season of the year, Abraham Adams of Leroy has put in opera¬ 
tion the steam digger. The digging apparatus is attached to a 
traction engine which is anchored at the end of the row of 
trees, the plow being drawn by two steel cables which pass 
through two pulleys staked to the ground, the cable winding 
in a set of reels attached to the engine. The process has 
proven a success, and we are told that the machine will in one 
day do the work of 500 men and do it better. With this 
apparatus the digging of trees in our large nurseries by horse 
or hand power is a thing of the past, and as the rule of the 
business men of Perry is progression, we are not surprised to see 
them grasp new ideas and keep to the front in all that meets 
the demand for their fast increasing trade. 
“ Mr. Adams claims his invention to be able to fill a long 
