166 TRANSACTIONS OF THE ILLINOIS 



PLANT NEW TREES 



in place of those that haA^e died. By this I do not mean they should 

 stand in the same place as the old ones, for the soil may have become 

 so exhausted of those elements of tree growth, if the tree were an 

 old one, that I do not know as that would be wise unless the ground 

 be fertilized. I leave that with the judgment of the one who has 

 the tree to plant. Even it the trees are not expected to live more than 

 fifteen or twenty years on an average, which 1 think is below what 

 the average may reasonably be expected to be by proper care, it will 

 pay to plant trees. A Mr. W. C. Giiford, of Belvidere, made a sug- 

 gestion that I thought worth considering, and that was to plant a 

 few trees every year. I find that some have now pretty good-look- 

 ing orchards by replacing any trees that die from year to year, which 

 is practically the same thing. It will have one advantage: the 

 farmer will always liave some trees in that vigor they should have at 

 from six to ten years old, which will be pretty sure to bring him a 

 crop of fruit, even with that neglect to which a large share of or- 

 chards are subjected. 



But whether the trees are planted yearly or all at once, take 

 care of them after they are planted. This implies several things. 

 In regard to the ground. Prof. J. L. Budd, in a recent coinmunica- 

 tion to the Prairie Farmer^ makes a good suggestion, from which I 

 take the following: "During the past fifteen years the writer has 

 lost no opportunity for urging the sowing of buckwheat in nurseries, 

 tree plantations and young orchards. When trees are set on the 

 dark-colored prairie soils of the West, and the ground well cultivated 

 and bare, the surface temperature above the nitrogen-feeding roots 

 will often reach 180 and sometimes 140 degrees. This intense 

 heat of the soil, and the consequent heating of the lower beds of air 

 to which the young trees are exposed, is contrary to nature and her 

 methods of tree-growing. If the exposed surfaces are covered witli 

 succulent plants of buckwheat, the nitrogen-feeding roots can come 

 up about as near to the surface as under native forest conditions, and 

 the lower beds of air to which the plants are exposed become rela- 

 tively cool. During the past quarter of a century some experiments 

 with a view to testing the relative effect on young trees of exposed 

 and shaded surfaces of soil between the rows, have given results too 

 striking for popular belief." 



Another thing in caring for trees is, see that insects do not de- 

 stroy them, or by eating much of the foliage so weaken them as to 

 invite diseases. I find it quite a prevalent idea among good observ- 

 ers that many of the trees that are killed by various causes, such as 

 cold weather, etc., are made susceptible to these causes by weakening 

 from insect depredations. If it pays to plant, it pays to take care of 

 them aiter trees are planted. 



