372 ILLINOIS STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



I disagree with the speaker as to watering after planting instead of 

 watering at the time of setting, as pouring water upon the surface is 

 almost sure to bake the soil, so that the rains will afterward run off, 

 instead of penetrating it. Whenever it is necessary to water, after a tree 

 has been planted, the surface soil should be removed, and the soil satu- 

 rated as far as the roots extend, even if it takes a hogshead of water ; then, 

 when the water has soaked away, the surface soil should be replaced and 

 left loose, not tramped. 



Mr. Garrison — I have known trees to be planted — and this practice 

 is commended by some writers — by pouring a large quantity of water 

 in the hole about the roots, putting in a little earth, and then churning 

 the trees up and down till the roots were imbedded in a porridge-like 

 puddle ; and I have dug up trees planted in this way after they had stood 

 seven years, and found the roots in a dry, hard mortar, with no fibres 

 except a few at the extremities, where they had penetrated the natural 

 soil. By watering on top of the mulch the ground will not bake, as has 

 been represented. 



Mr. Crow — We all know that when evergreen roots become so dry 

 as to thicken the sap considerably, they can not recover ; hence, we must 

 avoid letting them get dry while removing. I make a mellow bed for 

 planting trees, filling up all the crevices among the roots, and lose no 

 trees. I cultivate — pulverize — the ground instead of mulching, which 

 answers the same purpose. 



Mr. McWhorter commended the essay, and approved the practice 

 of mulching transplanted evergreens. 



Mr. L. K. Scofield uses water in abundance at the time of planting, 

 mulches, and has no occasion to water afterwards. 



Mr. D. C. Scofield wets the roots of evergreens when planting, 

 then after putting in water enough to settle the earth among the roots, 

 and allowing it to soak away, packs the earth firmly among and above 

 the roots, leaves the upper stratum of soil loose, and mulches. He rec- 

 ommended planting belts of evergreens by planting four rows twelve feet 

 apart, with the trees twelve feet apart in the rows. He exhorted land 

 owners to purchase and plant now while trees are so cheap. He said. It 

 is wonderful how trees so planted and well cultivated will grow. In 

 fifteen years after planting, my evergreen belts are forty feet high. A 

 quarter section of land thus belted will be enhanced in value five dollars 

 per acre in ten years, and in twenty years ten dollars per acre. In 

 fifteen years after planting, I cut, drew to mill, and built a house from 



