It does not matter at all whether the tree has its original tap-root or not.  All tap-roots are more or less destroyed in transplanting and the fact that not one per cent of the walnut trees now bearing crops in California consist of trees grown from the nut itself planted in place, is sufficient demonstration to us that it is perfectly practicable to proceed with transplanting the trees.  It is more important that the tree should have the right sort of soil and the right degree of moisture to grow in than that it should retain the root from which the seedling started.  The removal of the tap-root does not prevent the tree from sending out one or several deep running roots which will penetrate as deeply as the soil and moisture conditions favor.  This is true not only of the walnut but of other fruit trees.

Transplanting Old Trees.

Can I transplant fruit trees 2 to 3 inches through the butt, about one foot from the ground?  Varieties are oranges, lemons, pears, apples and English walnuts nearly 4 inches through the butt.  I wish to move them nearly a mile.  What is the best way and what the best month to do the work, or are trees too large to do well if moved?

The orange and lemon will do better in transplanting than the others.  Take up the trees when the soil becomes warmed by the sun after the coldest weather is over.  This may be in February.  Cut back the branches severely and take up the trees with a good ball of earth, using suitable lifting tackle to handle it without breaking.  Settle the earth around the ball in the new place with water, and keep the soil amply moist but not wet.  Whitewash all bark exposed to the sun by cutting back.  You can handle the walnut the same way, but it would, however, probably get such a setback that it might be better to buy a new tree two or three years old and plant that.  The apples and pears we would not try to transplant, but would rather have good new yearlings than try to coax them along.  Transplanting deciduous trees should be done earlier in the winter than evergreens.

Dwarfing a Fruit Tree.

I am told that by pruning the roots of a young tree after the root system is well started (say three years old) that as a result this will produce a tree that is semi-dwarfed or practically a dwarfed fruit tree.

Yes; cutting back the roots in the winter and cutting back the new growth in the summer will have a dwarfing effect.  The best way to get a dwarfed garden tree is to use a dwarfing root.  You can get trees on such roots at the nurseries.

Seedling Fruits.

I have been growing seedlings from the pits of some extra fine peaches and plums with a view to planting them.  A man near San Jose advised me that I would get good results, but since then I have met others who say that the fruit trees that spring from planted seeds yield only poor fruit.

It is the tendency of nearly all improved fruit to revert to wild types, more or less, when grown from the seed.  The chances are, then, that nine-tenths or more of the seedlings which you grew for fruiting might be worthless.  A few might be as good as the fruit from which you took the pits; possibly one might he better.  For these reasons the growing of fruit trees from pits and seeds is only used for the purpose of getting a root from which a chosen variety may be gotten by budding and grafting.