50 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 
grow satisfactorily. When a tree is moved from one place 
to another the greatest care should be exercised to prevent 
any greater injury to the roots than is absolutely necessary. 
The best subsequent development will occur where the 
shortest interval elapses between the time of digging up the 
tree and resetting it. While, with proper precaution, trees 
can be successfully transplanted when shipped from a dis- 
tance, there is no doubt but that the best results are usually 
obtained where trees are moved as short a distance as possi- 
ble. It is, therefore, recommended that wherever possible 
trees be purchased from nursery men in or near St. Louis, 
so that the least possible time may elapse between the dig- 
ging of the trees from the nursery to the actual setting in 
the street. Prospective purchasers of trees should insist on 
proper protection of the roots of trees which they purchase. 
The roots should either be kept moist or enclosed in bagging 
or other material, so as to reduce the drying out during the 
time of shipment. : 
HOW TO PLANT. 
Before setting any tree the greatest care should be used 
in properly preparing the place where the tree is to be set. 
In many of the streets the soil is, unfortunately, not of the 
best kind, particularly in places where the streets have been 
filled with ashes and other rubbish. It will be advisable 
in all cases, where the soil is poor, to dig a hole a good deal 
deeper than is necessary for the particular tree, and to par- 
tially fill this hole with good garden soil. In many of the 
eastern cities holes 10 to 12 feet in diameter are frequently 
dug and filled with good soil, so that the young trees when 
set may start out under the most favorable conditions. 
Before setting the tree all roots should be carefully ex- 
amined, and any broken or bruised ones carefully cut off 
with a sharp knife. At the same time the branches should 
be pruned. It is frequently not understood that in trans- 
planting a tree the fine roots are injured and in many cases 
destroyed entirely. Until a new set of fine roots is formed, 
the amount of water absorbed by the tree will be very small. 
In order that this small amount of water may be sufficient 
it is necessary to prevent an excessive production of leaves. 
The extent of the pruning of branches for this purpose, which 
should be done before setting, will depend upon the num- 
ber of fibrous roots which are still present. A rule frequently 
used is to cut off about four-fifths of last year’s growth from 
all branches. Maples and sycamores need not be pruned 
