HISTORY OF HORTICULTURE IX MINNESOTA. 177 



safest time tor transplanting trees in the Northwest. The reason is very plain. A tree or 

 plant is a thing of life as much as an animal, and in order to endure the rigors of a Minnesota 

 Winter, must have, through its roots, a vital hold upon the soil, which it cannot have if 

 planted in the Fall, with mutilated roots and the rootlets left where the tree was taken from. 

 There is, doubtless, a circulation of sap, at least in the mild days of Winter, and there is a 

 constant evaporation going on from every bud, twig and branch, and the roots having no hold 

 upon the earth and no mouths to drink in supplies, this evaporation must greatly eufetble 

 the tree, if it does not kill it outright. But while I advocate spring planting, I hold to the 

 theory that the trees should be secured, dug, transported root and top, pruned, if necessary, 

 and heeled in with the roots out of the reach of frost in the Fall. I last Spring planted 15 

 trees that were thus treated, and six of the same variety that were equally good, but were 

 dug up, pruned and planted in the Spring. The former made a growth of from one to two 

 feet, the latter two to six inches ; the former looked clean and healthy, the latter consumptive, 

 and if they endure the present severe Winter, will very likely be black-hearted. 



PLANTING. 



If the ground is well prepared it is not essential to open holes larger than to receive the 

 roots without cramping. After the hole is dug and the tree placed just where it is wanted, it 

 should be held in place with one hand while with the other, fine soil is worked among the 

 roots, and care must be taken that there is no place left where roots and soil do not come 

 in contact. To expedite the business of planting, I first lay ott' ray ground and set a small 

 stake at every point where a tree is to stand; next, provide myself with a machine, which 

 was described many years ago in some agricultural paper, viz., a board five feet long, six 

 inches broad, an inch hole in each end and a notch in the center, and two stakes that will slip 

 easily through the holes. It is used by laying the board down with the notch fitting to the 

 stake, inserting the end stake.*, removing the board and outer stake, digging the hole, laying 

 the board back over the end stakes, and setting the tree to have the trunk fit into the notch 

 where the first stake stood. After the hole is filled, give a firm pressure with the feet and 

 finish oflf by drawing some fine loose soil about the tree, leaving the surface loose for two or 

 three feet from the trunk. 



MULCHING. 



As a general rule, if a tree is properly taken up at the nursery, rightly handled afterward 

 and planted with care in suitable, prepared soil, it will live. But it is safer to give a mulching 

 immediately after planting. The great object in mulching is to retain moisture in the ground 

 and give an even temperature to the soil. Almost any waste material will answer for this 

 purpose, but old leaves half decayed, hay or straw, or moss from a swamp, is the best. Chip 

 manure and ground muck should not be used, neither fermenting manures. My practice is 

 to let the mulching remain undisturbed until about the first of September, and then remove 

 it, that the soil about the roots may cool ofl' as the nights get frosty, and replace it after 

 Winter sets in. 



The next item of importance is cultivation. In our virgin soil I think it beneficial to raise 

 crops of corn, beans, potatoes, and other early maturing vegetables between the rows, (giv- 

 ing them no cultivation after the first of July,) until tue trees come to bearing, after which 

 time they should be alloAved to occupy the whole ground, receiving a shallow plowinir and 

 harrowing in May and June each year. The best and most fruitful orchard I ever had any- 

 thing to do with was plowed, cultivated and planted with a rotation of crops, until many of 

 the trees were nearly one foot in diameter, and more than double the size of trees of the 

 same age in the orchard upon an adjoining f^rni that had been sodded down and used as a 

 meadow, while the crop of fruit was from three to four times as great and much superior in 

 quality. The fertility of the soil was kept up by the application of lime, ashes, and the 

 manner of culture. 



PRUNING. 



With some varieties pruning seems to be a necessity. In Ohio I have spent weeks, in the 

 month of February, iu thinning oat and shaping up old apple trees, without any apparent 

 injury to them, but a like process in this State would be certain death. Why, I am unable to 

 tell. Here the work should be done as sparingly as circumstances will permit, and in my 

 opinion the best times are July and October, or November, and wounds of one-quarter of an 

 inch or more in diameter, should be covered with grafting cement or paint, to prevent decay 

 from the action of the weather, and the trees should be headed, say, from two to four feet. 



GRAFTING AND BUDDING. 



On account of mistakes of our judgment of varieties, blunders of nurserymen, the swind- 



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