372 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



from your nearest nursery; go after them with team and wagon 

 if you can make the trip in a day ; get Austrian or Scotch pine or 

 both, 12 to 1 8 inches high once transplanted; plant them the next 

 day if possible, if not, heel them in, in a shady, moist place; of 

 course you should do the same if they have been shipped to you. 

 When ready to plant choose, if possible, a cloudy, damp day; take 

 25 or 30 trees, puddle the roots well in a tub of mud, put them in a 

 box fitted with a handle made of an old barrel hoop or something 

 similar, put a little wet straw or moss over the roots, and you are 

 ready to plant. I prefer to have a man dig the holes just ahead 

 of me, which a good man can do if the ground is not too hard. 1 

 dig the holes about 14x14 inches square, about 12 or 16 inches deep. 

 Plant as you would any other tree, putting a little loose dirt in the 

 bottom of the hole, spreading the roots out well and packing the 

 earth very firmly around them, and finish by tramping it solid with 

 your feet ; see that the little tree stands straight and firm so the wind 

 will not be whipping it about. I generally plant from three to six 

 inches deeper than the trees stood before. 



The most important thing to be borne in mind when handling 

 evergreens is that the roots must never be allowed to dry, not for 

 a second. 



Now as to the after care : simply keep the ground well culti- 

 vated and free of weeds for at least four feet on eacn side of row 

 the first two or three years and always be careful to break up the 

 crust formed after heavy rains. For this work I like the 12-tooth 

 drag cultivator the best of any I have used. 



Mulch your trees in the fall after it freezes up (I prefer flax 

 straw to spoiled hay) remove mulch in spring and cultivate as be- 

 fore. After three or four years the trees can be mulched heavily and 

 allowed to take care of themselves. 



Although is may seem to be a good deal of labor, it virtually 

 takes but a short time to cultivate a row of trees like that, and when 

 your trees get to be eight or ten feet high you will not regret the 

 little care bestowed upon them while they were small ; and if every 

 homestead were surrounded by such a shelter belt, what a transfor- 

 mation it would make in the appearance of the landscape during the 

 long, bleak winter months, to say nothing of the comfort it would 

 afford to man and beast. 



Now, while you are about it, scatter a few evergreens about the 

 house for ornament, but here I prefer to use trees a little larger, 



