e to transplant it. That is
self-evident; it needs some time to heal those wounds that are made both
in the root and the branch.

Mr. Harris: What time of year do you bud them?

Mr. Rush: In August.

Mr. Hutt: I notice some trees here that are evidently two-year old
pecans that have been cut back, and you notice that in every case
several tap-roots have taken the place of the one. Here are some others
that have not been cut. These have gone straight down. They are strong
roots with few fibers on them. On these other trees that have been cut
the formation of tap-roots continues. They will go down till they strike
a permanent water-table and then the tap-root will stop. In Hyde County,
North Carolina, near the ocean, the water-table is close to the surface
and there is a deep black alluvial soil with a great deal of water in
it. In order to grow anything there they have to put in ditches to get
the water out. The pecan trees growing there have absolutely no
tap-roots at all, it rots off as soon as it strikes the permanent
water-table; and I think that's the reason they produce such enormous
quantities of pecans in that county. In bottomless, sandy land where
there is no clay the root keeps on going down till it finds the
permanent water-table, even if that is six or eight or ten feet down.
These roots, as you see, were going right down to China to look at that
king on the other side if they got a chance. It's the same with the long
leaf pine. It has a tap-root below ground thicker than the trunk above
ground. The reason is that it grows naturally on those bottomless
places; the root goes down till it strikes water, then runs off
laterally. If you cut the roots they are bound to make new tap-roots.
You can see the place where they have been cut and in place of one
tap-root you have two, going right down into that sandy soil till they
find a water-table. I believe that a nurseryman who will cut off the
root of the pecan tree when it is transplanted, will cause it to form
more lateral roots and make a better tree. There's a great number of
vigorous roots in this tree than in this, and this tree whose root has
been cut off will make a tree much easier to transplant and will be a
better tree than those with great thick roots without the fibers that
have the root hairs upon them.

A member: You wouldn't recommend cutting back that tap-root too
severely, would you?

Mr. Hutt: In planting a tree of this kind, I'd cut off a