464 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



to get it percectly square. Between the stakes on one side stretch a 

 check-wire from a corn planter as a guide. Now stretch another 

 wire of the same kind to the other stake, but have this wire on 

 stakes that are easily moved from place to place. Be sure that 

 where the wires cross that the button of the top wire is directly 

 over the button of the bottom wire. Put in a stake where the wires 

 cross, another under the fifth button from there, and so on through 

 the field. 



Now take up this wire and move it eighteen feet four inches, or 

 five links, on the other wire, to the side, and move it forward two 

 and one-half links and put in stakes under the same buttons you 

 did for the first row. The next row you do the same with, 

 only draw the wire back two and one-half links ; and so on through 

 the field, moving the wire forward and back every other row. The 

 result will be that you get your trees eighteen feet four inches 

 apart in the row, and the rows eighteen feet four inches apart. 



Have your trees heeled in on the ground in a convenient place, 

 keeping the roots in wet earth. 



If possible, get a thresher's tank and in the bottom of each hole, 

 which should have been made wide and deep, throw a large pailful 

 of water. Now throw in some top soil and mix it until it is a 

 thick mud. 



Trim your tree, cutting off the ends of all cut and bruised roots, 

 and cut out about one-half of the branches, and those that re- 

 main should be cut back about half way. See that the top is 

 evenly balanced. 



Now set your tree in the mud so that it will stand from six to 

 fourteen inches deeper than it stood in the nursery. Being planted 

 so deep it won't be so liable to dry out. It will also have a chance 

 to send out roots from above the graft, making it a tree that is 

 more certain to stand our test winters. 



Fill the hole almost full, packing the earth firmly. Leave a 

 saucer-shaped hollow around the tree to gather the rain. Wrap 

 your trees with burlap, newspapers, or give them some other pro- 

 tection against mice, rabbits, sun-scald and whiffletrees. 



Drag your orchard several times to break up the tracks left by 

 the planters, after which it might be planted to some kind of culti- 

 vated crop, corn probably being the best in exposed situations if 

 the stalks are left standing to catch the snow during the winter, 

 thereby protecting the roots. 



Cultivate your orchard thoroughly to keep the moisture from 

 escaping, and you will be rewarded with an almost perfect stand. 



Prof. Robertson: I would like to ask Mr. Tiegland why he 



