The Secretary: That's a good point.
The Chairman: About cutting the tap-root I have said yes and no so fast that I don't know which I've said last, and it seems to me that we ought to have discussion on this very point.
The Secretary: I have said that in buying these grafted trees you should set them out following the instructions of the nurseryman closely.
Mr. Lake: But that statement about the tap-root would lead the average planter to think that it was very desirable to have the tap-root.
The Secretary: Has it been settled that it is not desirable?
Mr. Lake: Well, I think it has been generally accepted that it is of no special value.
The Secretary: That trees will grow as well transplanted as if they have never been transplanted?
Mr. Lake: Well, I shouldn't want to put it that way, but this is the point: I would like to have the tree planter understand that a walnut tree doesn't need the tap-root and if he cuts off the tap-root in planting, there is no great loss. I wouldn't want to say that his trees wouldn't begin to bear earlier or bear larger if left in the original place. I prefer to transplant my own tree after it is grown, rather than run the risk of getting scrub trees in the post hole or on the hill. I prefer to select the grafted trees even without the tap-roots, which would be removed in digging, and planting them all uniform, rather than to plant the seeds. Speaking for the amateur, I think the latter is good practice. The point I had in mind was that many people will not take the time to plant nuts but will want to set grafted trees, and the question is, should they have considerable tap-root—the grafted trees?
The Secretary: Following my plan, a man would buy a small number of fine trees and set them out at once; that would probably be all he would undertake and all he could probably manage. He would also plant a small number of nuts on which to experiment in propagation. My experience up in Connecticut has been that all my southern transplanted trees, almost without exception, have died. I have planted pecans and Persian walnuts from a number of different nurseries. I have done it personally and done it as carefully as I could, but they have either made a very feeble growth indeed or have all died. On the other hand, the seeds I have planted have grown into very vigorous trees.
Mr. Rush: I have had a little experience with the tap-root theory. You can't dig a walnut tree without cutting the tap-root, and that tap-root, I find, is practically of no benefit at all after you have your upper laterals, and an abundance of them; by cutting the tap-root growth is stimulated and a new tap-root is made. It is very largely in the mode of pruning the tap-root. You can readily stimulate the tap-root system.