FEEDING TREES THROUGH THE TRUNKS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXIX, Issue 7251, 9 August 1907, Page 1

FEEDING TREES THROUGH THE TRUNKS.

In recent experiments the artificial feeding of trees fchroueh incisions in their trunks has given remarkable resnlts_ in restoring .health and vigour, and in saving valuable-specimens whose' roots had been so weakened by disease as to . draw insufficient nourishment from thesoil. The death of many apple trees on the estate of M. Simon, at Allaire, France, was traced to an affection of; the rootlets. To treat diseased trees a tube was inserted through the bark of the stem to the layers having the sap vessels, and liquid was supplier! from a reservoir placed from three to five feet higher than the hole in the bark. An apple tree in bad condition absorbed a pint... and a-half of water in twenty-lour hours, then two quarts of liquid fertiliser containing fifty grams of sulohate of potash in twelve days, and afterwards dilute fertiliser, including nitrate of potash. The treatment, begun early in March, was followed by vigorous spring growth, and by September- new, twigs were eight to ten inches '.«■.'-"&. Of.lior results showed that apnnrently dying trees might bo restored. An nttempt'to.improve cabbages, cauliflowprs. and potatoes by the same proness, using a h:ilf per cent solution of common salt, gave products of exceptional size find flavour. .