Hints on the Planting of Orchards. 249 



middle of the field each way b}^ having one person set the stake 

 while another person sights him from a stake at the side of the 

 field to the corresponding stake at the opposite side. No stake or 

 row of stakes should be set where a tree or row of trees will come. 

 Thus the entire orchard may be planted without removing a stake 

 and the rows must be straight if the man who plants the trees has 

 a 'good e^-e.' Any man after a little showing, can dig holes in 

 the proper places by sighting in two lines at right angles from 

 himself in the direction in which there are two stakes in line, as 

 will always be the case wherever he may be in the field. If the 

 ground is very uneven, or the field very large, more than one 

 intermediate row of stakes will be useful." 



Trbmning the trees. — There is much difference of opinion as 

 to the best method of trimming trees when they are set. So far 

 as the root is concerned, it is advisable, in the North, to cutaway 

 only those roots w^hich are broken or badly torn. These should 

 be cut off just back of the injury. It is the custom to cut off the 

 ends of all roots of the size of a lead pencil or larger, for a clean 

 smooth wound is supposed to heal quicker than a ragged one. 

 These cuts are made from within outwards, so that the wound is 

 more or less slanting across the roots and so that it rests firmly 

 upon the ground when the tree is set. When the tree is planted, 

 all the roots should be straightened out to nearly or quite their 

 normal position. If it is found that one or two roots run off to 

 an inordinate length, they may be cut back to correspond some- 

 what with the main root system. 



Perhaps half the entire root system of the young tree is left in 

 the ground when it is dug. It is therefore evident that the top 

 should be cut back to a corresponding amount. In fact, the top 

 should be more severely shortened in than the root, because the 

 root, in addition to being reduced, is also dislodged from the soil, 

 with which it must establish a new union before it can resume the 

 vital activities. Trees which are allowed to carry too much top 

 when planted, may fail to grow outright ; or if they start, they 

 are very likely to be overtaken by the drouths of summer. Even 

 if they live, the growth is generally small and uncertain, and the 

 tree may fall a prey to borers or a victim to high winds. On the 

 other hand, I am convinced that trees are sometimes trimmed too 



