SOCIETY OF NORTHERN ILLINOIS. 223 



you plant it, the sooner you will have the benefit of it. A wind- 

 break is cheaper than corn and makes more shelter than a solid 

 board wall of the same height. If you have no shelter for your 

 stock, it will require more feed to keep them in good condition. 

 Thousands of people have never seen an evergreen wind-break. It 

 is both useful and ornamental, and costs but little, and is one of 

 the best investments that can be made. 



Never plant evergreens of any variety less than eighteen inches 

 in height or less than once transplanted in permanent plantations of 

 any kind. They grow slow while small, and it takes too much time 

 to cultivate them and by the time they are large they will be uneven 

 in size. When planting in wind-breaks or hedges, grade them, set- 

 ting the largest alone and the smallest alone so as to have an even 

 growth. If you must plant small trees, put them in rows three and 

 a half or four feet apart and from eight to fifteen inches apart in 

 the rows, in a convenient place to cultivate them. When they are 

 large enough, transplant them to permanent plantations. Never 

 allow the roots to dry while out of the ground. It will kill them. 

 Dig the holes large enough to admit the roots without bending and 

 plant but little deeper than they grew. If the ground is dry dip the 

 roots in a puddle made of surface soil and water, of the consistency 

 of thick paint. Set the tree thus coated with puddle in the hole; 

 cover the roots with mellow soil, tramp it as firmly as possible, fill 

 in ground till the hole is nearly full, then pour in from one-half to 

 a pail of water, according to the size of the tree and dryness of the 

 ground. After the water is settled fill up with soil an inch or two 

 above the level of the surface. If the ground is very moist use no 

 water, but be sure to tramp as firmly as possible. 



Plant hedges in trenches instead of holes. It is sometimes more 

 convenient to plow them than to dig them all with a spade. Trees 

 for this purpose should be nearly even in size and branches close to 

 the ground. Plant them at equal distances, from eighteen to thirty 

 inches apart and as soon as they are planted, trim the tops of the 

 tallest off even with the smallest, to givie them an even start. Trim 

 them every year, never leaving the top branches longer than those at 

 the base of the hedge. 



For wind-breaks plant the trees eight feet apart in the rows, 

 the rows eight feet apart and the trees in the second row oppo- 

 site the spaces in the first. The best varieties are Scotch and White 

 Pine, and Norway and White Spruce. Every orchard should have a 

 wind-break on the west and south side to keep the fruit from being 

 blown off. Cultivate two or three years and do not allow any sod to 

 grow within two feet of your evergreens, if you want them to do any 

 good. If stocky first-class trees from eighteen inches to four feet in 

 height are properly planted you need not lose one in a hundred. 



