No. I DBPARTMEiNT OF AGRICULTURE. 38$ 



considered by itself. In many instances it may be noted that this 

 method is quite out of the question on account of the expense or 

 the danger involved. 



There is still a good deal of popular interest in artificially grow- 

 ing medicinal plants; it is kept alive by the seductive advertising of 

 interested parties who have roots and seeds to sell. The intending 

 grower will avoid disappointment and loss if he will give careful 

 attention to the conditions found necessary in the growth of such 

 plants, and the essential differences between them and the ordinary 

 plants of cultivation, which latter have become truly domesticated, 

 and thus are essentially different from their wild prototypes. An 

 acre of corn or potatoes is one thing, and an acre of ginseng or 

 golden seal is a vastly different thing. There is no proper parallel 

 between them beyond the fact that each occupies an acre of land. 

 So carefully and impartially have these matters been considered 

 by the United States Department of Agriculture that the best ad- 

 vice which can be given any inquirer is to write there for bulletins 

 upon the subject. The series of Farmers' Bulletins which are sent 

 gratuitously upon application, cover most of these subjects; and 

 it is surprising how few farmers seem to know of them, or have 

 the disposition to obtain and read them. 



The transplanting of large trees is a matter of occasional interest 

 and inquiry. It is no doubt sometimes entirely feasible and de- 

 sirable to transplant large specimens of some particularly valuable 

 kind, or, in order to produce some specific effect quickly. But, when 

 one is confronted with this problem he will do well to make haste 

 slowly and count the cost and try to forecast the results before 

 he turns a shovelful of earth. There is no doubt but that it can be 

 done and that the conditions which should control the process are 

 quite well known, but the cost is often prohibitive and the results 

 unsatisfactory. It is best to do it in the winter time, digging a 

 wide trench around the base of the tree, as far away from it as the 

 conditions will permit. Allow the large mass thus isolated to freeze, 

 jack it up, and if the distance of removal is considerable, or there 

 are obstacles in the way of carriage while upright, throw the tree 

 prostrate in such a way as to bring the base squarely upon a sled 

 or drag of some kind. The top should be liberally thinned out, in 

 some cases the branches shortened in, and all parts to which chains 

 or ropes are attached protected by flat slats and matting. When the 

 ground is covered with snow or ice even a very large tree can be 

 transplanted with great ease and placed in the desired position. 

 The earth should be carefully packed in about the roots as soon as 

 frost is out of the ground, and the trunk stayed with guy ropes or 

 wires for a year or two unless it ?,hould appear to be more than 

 ordinarily stable. A moment's thought will show the great advan- 

 tage of winter removal and the greater success which it promises. 

 It is no unusual thing, however, for the work to be done at other 

 times of the year. But the expejise is far beyond the means of 

 most men. It requires special implements and devices to handle 

 the great weight and awkward bulk, While the chances of satisfac- 

 tory growth are not large in spite of the extravagant claims and 

 exaggerated stories which interested parties may make. 



Various cases of plant disease came to my notice, but few of which 

 were of such a nature that material help could be given to the 



