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156 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
In the sixteen foot orchard, I have set them in this form: apples, 
sixteen feet each way, and in each alternate space between the rows, plums 
or cherries, the same distance apart and set opposite to spaces between the 
apple trees, leaving each alternate space for a drive way to manure and 
otherwise care for the orchard. I reasoned this way: by the time the 
apple trees get large enough to reach out much, the plums and cherries will 
be ready to come out. It has been my experience that plums in particular 
pay best while quite young. 
In order to utilize all of the ground in the orchard, between the trees set 
twenty feet apart, I have put red raspberries; in the space between the rows 
I have blackberries. This leaves room for cultivation either side of the black- 
berries, thus cultivating the whole ground. Also I have red raspberries in 
the apple tree rows of the sixteen foot orchard. 
I want to say right here that I consider the danger from injury to trees 
by rabbits very much increased by having raspberries in the tree rows. I 
have had some ruined in this way. But in this case they were black rasp- 
berries, which afford much better shelter for them in winter. I cut the old 
brush out of them, both black and red, in the fall. A point in favor of rasp- 
berries in the tree row is that they shade the ground and tend to prevent 
tree scald. 
A man who has spent a life time in the orchard business has just com- 
menced to learn something when he is ready to die. 
PUDDLING TREES BEFORE SETTING. 
H. E. VAN DEMAN. 
One of the most helpful things I ever learned in horticulture was about 
puddling trees and all sorts of plants before setting them. The first thing 
every transplanted tree or plant must do before it can grow in its new loca- 
.tion, is to heel the wounds made upon its roots and start new rootlets 
through which to absorb moisture and food from the soil. The closer and 
more firmly the earth is pressed to them, the more readily they can do this. 
It takes time for the particles of the soil to get into as close contact with 
the roots as it was before transplanting, no matter how well the work is done. 
This is where puddling comes in. The cost is nothing, except a very little 
work. It is done thus: 
Near where the trees or plants are heeled in, or the place where they are 
to be planted, dig a hole about two feet in diameter and one foot deep. Fill 
it nearly full of water. Into this put mellow earth that is partly composed 
of clay, and stir it until it is a mass of thin sticky mud. As soon as the roots 
are trimmed ready for planting, dip them into it bodily. If there is any de- 
lay about planting, and the mud dries so that it is not sticky, puddle them 
again. When the mellow soil comes in contact with these muddy roots it 
will stick to them closely. Those who have never tried this plan can have 
no knowledge of the good that follows. I puddle almost every plant that 
I set, and find that it always pays. Cabbage and sweet potato plants will 
start into new growth almost without wilting, no matter what the weather 
may he at the time. 
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