B0^^ TO PLANT A TREE TO SECURE BEST RESULTS 



By Prof. W. N. Hutt, Horticulturist North Carolina Department 



of Agriculture 

 It is not every man who can properly plant a tree. That this is true 

 is evidenced by orchard and shade trees all over the country. One can 

 scarely take an hour's drive in any farming community without seeing 

 trees that are suffering from improper handling at planting time. From 

 my observations I think it safe that 50 per cent of the trees sent out 

 from nurseries never come to usefulness. This great loss is due to care- 

 less and unintelligent handling rather than to any other cause. 



Delicate Structure of Trees 



In the first place, trees are not the non-destructible organisms one 

 would be led to think they were, from the way one so often sees them 

 handled. On the contrary, trees are made up of delicate organs, which 

 are very subject to adverse conditions, and, like other living forms, 

 readily show the result of favorable or harmful environments. 



The part of a tree above ground, because it is always subject to 

 changing conditions of weather, has acquired the power of accommodat- 

 ing itself to a considerable range of conditions. Hardy trees can resist 

 and accommodate themselves to a very wide range of temperatures. 

 The root environment of a tree is of a very different nature from the con- 

 ditions above ground. The more dense nature of the soil covering about 

 the roots of trees makes them less susceptible to sudden changes than 

 the air-exposed parts. For this reason, the roots are much more tender 

 and easily injured than the branches of a tree. Branches cannot en- 

 dure root environment, nor can roots endure branch environment — and 

 yet we often see trees exposed at planting time, as if the roots would 

 stand whatever the tops would. 



Root-Hairs 



In addition to these conditions of environment, roots have delicate 

 organs, known as root-hairs, that maintain their life only under con- 

 ditions of moisture. These root-hairs, as their name implies, are fine 

 and hair-like— so fine, indeed, that one needs a microscope to see them 

 perfectly. They have exceedingly thin and delicate cell-walls, and con- 

 tain the active protoplasm on which the life of the tree depends. It is 

 by the osmotic action of the delicate walls of the root-hairs that the tree 

 is able to get its food from the soil. As might be seen from their nature, 

 root-hairs are very easily injured and killed by drying. Unless they are 

 constantly in contact with moist soil particles, they die, and the leaves of 

 the tree above the ground quickly tell of the loss below the surface. 



