Summer Meeting. 113 



my mind, if there is any one thing that causes more failures, other than 

 allowing roots to dry out, it is that of puddling roots before planting. 

 As a rule, those who puddle do not water afterwards, hence in the course 

 of a few days the dry earth, coming in contact with the damp puddled 

 roots, absorbs all the moisture and leaves nothing for the young roots 

 to start in, only a few hard dry balls of earth that had adhered to the 

 roots. 



HOW TO PLANT. 



Assuming that you have had your trees heeled-in, of course you 

 would be naturally familiar with the size of the balls, and, therefore, 

 could judge accurately the size of the hole required for each tree, but 

 it is always wise in digging holes for trees, if you err at all, to err on the 

 side of having the hole both deep and wide, and, in low or filled-in ground, 

 it is alway advisable to fill in the bottom of the hole with eight or ten 

 inches of broken stone, for if there is anything that an evergreen detests 

 it is water lying around the roots. Where such conditions prevail and 

 vx'here artificial drainage is not provided, the tree may survive for a few 

 months, then take on that yellow, sickly appearance called tree consump- 

 tion, and die. Dig around the roots of one of those trees which I have 

 just described and what will you find? You will find all the lower roots 

 black, sour, rotten; the tree is existing on the few little white roots 

 v/hich the trunk is sending out just at the grade level, where the air 

 has kept the soil sweet and pure. These iev^ young roots sustain life 

 for a while, but in the end the result is what I have already described 

 — death. 



In planting, be sure yon do not plant them any deeper in the ground 

 than they were growing in the nursery row ; this can be readily seen by 

 a ring around the tree showing the dirt mark. Throw your rammer 

 across the hole, sight it with your eye, and if the underneath part of 

 your rammer is level with the former dirt mark on your tree, then you 

 are ready for planting. 



Now for a willing rammer and a lazy shoveler, and my experience 

 has taught me that it is wise to use two men ramming to one shoveling. 

 It is very prudent and wise after the tree has been set in position, its 

 best side facing London, to tie up all the lower branches with a rope. 

 This will prevent them from being injured with either the rammer or 

 shovel. 



If your trees have not come to you bagged and with a good ball 

 of earth, and I would not buy an evergreen tree of any nurseryman 

 who would not send his trees bagged, then I would consider it a very 



H-8 



