110 MISSOURI STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



the few specimens planted here and there for ornament and protection. 

 Selecting groves for places of worship seems but obedience to a na- 

 tural impulse, and I feel more like uncovering my head in the presence 

 of a few venerable living towers, than the most immense piles of brick 

 or rock. An attempt to set a money value on them, seems almost 

 sacrilegious, and ten fold, or even hundred fold, return of actual cost 

 would scarcely be any temptation to the most sordid for parting with 

 a well grown specimen in a proper place. 



Perhaps very few would state the case as strongly as this, but it 

 is safe to say that still fewer, or none, would make any attempt to 

 refute it in the presence of half a dozen ten or fifteen year old, thrifty, 

 well placed specimens. Very few would directly add one hundred 

 dollars to the price of the farm directly for each such specimen, but 

 with other appurtenances somewhat in keeping, buyer and seller would 

 unconsciously place it there none the less, and the mention of ten 

 dollars would be considered ridiculous. Why is it, then, that we see 

 so few of them on the average farms, so called homes, the memory of 

 which children should cherish? I can only answer by echoing: Why"? 



It is true that they are somewhat harder to transplant than com- 

 mon deciduous trees, that if the sap is once stagnated they cannot be 

 revived, necessitating more careful handling. But there is more or 

 less risk with any kind of trees, and prodigious failures, e8i)ecially in 

 hands not trained or accustomed to the requirements. Besides these 

 are nearly always planted in the hardest sod on the farm, where the 

 soil is not near fitted to grow a hill of corn, and the surrounding grass 

 absorbs all the moisture long before the garden or decently kept or- 

 chard would suffer. Digging up the soil some time beforehand, when 

 in proper condition, a circle six to eight feet in diameter, and mulching, 

 or better, hoeing afterwards, would entitle us to expect more uniform 

 success. Watering may be helpful and necessary, but a thorough 

 soaking, not sprinkling. I have have to-day gradually put two barrels 

 of water on a cultivated birch moved last winter, with a ball of ice. A 

 nail keg, leaky bucket or salt barrel will allow the water to soak in 

 without baking the soil. 



As to varieties, we are much less liable to go astray than in plant- 

 ing apple trees. Quite a number are entirely free from any objections, 

 which can hardly be said of any apple. 



Scotch and White Pine are universal favorites, both for growing: 

 in the nursery and on the lawn, and the taste would be singularly fas- 

 tidious or perverted that could dispense with either. 



