344 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



better when clean. The nurseryman needs to keep in mind the 

 Yankee rule, "To do every job first-class with the least possible 

 expenditure of time and labor/' and that one man that will take an 

 interest in his work and has what the Yankees call "gumption," 

 and western men "horse sense," is worth two men without these 

 two things. 



Mr. S. P. Crosby : About how far down in the soil do you set 

 your trees in sandy ground? 



Mr. Richardson : Well, you have got to have some man that 

 knows. I know nothing about sandy soil. 



Mr. Crosby : The section of country I come from in eastern 

 Minnesota has a sandy soil. Is it not generally considered that a 

 tree planted permanently should be set deeper than when it is set 

 in the nursery? 



Mr. Richardson : I have had good luck setting them down in 

 the clay two and a half feet deep, and from two feet to eighteen 

 inches. 



Mr. Crosby : Do you put in all the roots, or do you clip oflf the 

 ends? 



Mr. Richardson : I like to dig a big hole and put in all the 

 roots unless there is a root two or three feet long. In that case I 

 cut it down to a reasonable length. 



Mr. Crosby : I have heard men say sometimes that in putting 

 down roots the ends of them should be taken off, as sometimes they 

 will curl up and that causes the death of the tree. 



Mr. Richardson : I do not know how that would work, to curl 

 up the roots. The first trees I ever had in Minnesota I hired a man 

 to set them out, and I gave him a common square spade to do it 

 with. He said he did not know how to set out a tree. I told him 

 everybody ought to know how to set out a tree and told him to go 

 ahead. He dug a square hole — and it has always been a mystery to 

 me how he could dig so small a hole with that spade, — and he had 

 jammed the roots all together and stuck them in that hole. Out of 

 sixty trees I had one left. I tried the Texas plan of cutting off the 

 top and all the roots and planting them with a crow bar. That works 

 all right in Texas, but not in Minnesota. (Laughter.) I have tried 

 almost everything in the way of methods of planting that I have 

 ever heard of. 



Grade Apples Carefully. — As a rule, I would advise that all 

 varieties in our climatic conditions should be packed as they are^ 

 picked from the trees, handling as little as possible. The next 

 detail to determine is what you are going to pack, whether No. 

 I, No. 2, orchard run or culls. After this is determined, and 

 you know what constitutes the different grades, pack it that way 

 and mark in that way, put your name upon the package and make 

 it stand for something and do not do, after the manner of too 

 many when their fruit before sorting would not grade even 

 No. 2, sort out the best and simply because it is the best there 

 is, brand it No. i, when in reality there is no No. I, and many 

 times not good No. 2. All the specimens in a package should 

 grade up to a more or less uniform standard of shape and size. 



