WINTER MEETING. 239 



CULTIVATION OF YOUNG TREES. 



Mr. President — The subject assigned me by your Secretary is 

 *'The Cultivation of Young Trees." It is my purpose to treat this 

 subject, not from a merely theoretical standpoint, but chiefly from a 

 practical point, of view. I know of no better way to tell you how I 

 would cultivate young trees than to tell you how I have cultivated 

 them. 



Five years ago I bought two tracts of land, one of 96 acres and 

 the other of 37. The larger tract is located on a high ridge, formerly 

 -covered with a heavy growth of timber, chiefly hickory, oak and elm. 

 But the larger portion had been in cultivation about 30 years. Some, 

 however, was still covered with timber. The land i's fairly rich, but 

 I selected it because of its porus subsoil, rather than the fertility of 

 the top soil. The smaller piece is located on the bluffs of Grand river, 

 a portion extending into the bottom. This piece is very sandy, the 

 soil on the ridges being of a light, ashy color, not good for grain, and 

 formerly covered with white oak timber. The bottom is a rich, black 

 loam, with a very sandy subsoil. 



After the purchase I proceeded to make these tracts ready for 

 trees, which I did by preparing the land for corn. However, I had 

 purchased 3,000 apple trees in the fall and "heeled" them in, ready for 

 the spring set. I bought two year-old trees, 2,000 of one man and 1,000 

 of another. One nursery was located about sixty miles distant, and the 

 other about twenty-five miles. When the trees came I opened the 

 boxes and found that the trees of the thousand lot were much larger 

 than those of the two-thousand lot. I was proud of these trees, but 

 there lurked a suspicion within me that they were more than two years 

 old. I was assured, however, that the tops were two years old and 

 the roots three. I am still satisfied that the tops were at least two 

 years old. They were fine, however; I mean they were large. The 

 trees had been trimmed about waist high to a tall man, an unusual 

 thing with two-year old trees. The limbs, which had many side 

 branches, were pressed into the boxes so closely as to crack the bark 

 near the body of the tree. The limbs were alive at first, but were not 

 all thus in three months after setting. As a result the laps, already 

 much too high, were made higher, and often the limbs on the south 

 side died, leaving the trees in bad shape. Before I knew what would 

 happen, I set these fine large trees near the public road. I wanted 

 people to see what a fine lot of trees I had. I set the other lot out in 



