SOME SMALL EVERGREENS FOR LAWNS AND YARDS. 353 
the roots; the top will come all in good time, but the roots, and lots of 
them, you must have in order to be sure of success. You might succeed with 
a large top and less root if you were very careful and painstaking, not lucky; 
but the chances would be against you. The transplanted plants cost more, 
but they are worth much more and are the cheapest in the end, if you are 
planting with a real desire to succeed. It is also good policy for the planter 
to buy his stock of a reliable grower who has good plants of the varieties 
desired, as near by as possible, to minimize the chances of removal and 
transportation. In planting in the lawn, a space in the sod must be cut 
out sufficiently large to allow the roots to be spread out in a natural posi- 
tion, and some to spare. I should say a space with a diameter three times 
the spread of your tree, and sufficiently deep to give mellow soil beneath 
the roots. In planting the roots should not be exposed to the air one min- 
ute, and must not be from the time they leave the nursery until they are 
safely under the soil again. This is the main secret of luck in transplanting 
evergreens. 
Have everything ready before you begin. In planting in the lawn it 
would be well to have some soil ready other than that taken from the lawn, 
and have it fine. Having put good fine soil in the bottom of the hole, put 
in your tree so that when the planting is completed it will stand a little 
lower than in the nursery. Spread out the roots naturally and proceed 
quickly to cover them with fine soil, working it in between the roots with 
the fingers, and shaking the tree to facilitate the work. After getting the 
roots covered, stamp the earth firmly down, and then put in some more 
dirt and stamp. Have the soil very firm around the roots. The sur- 
face of the soil should be left loose, say, about two inches deep, to prevent 
baking, and allow the water to penetrate the soil. If you wish trees to do 
well you must keep the sod cut away from them and keep the soil stirred 
with a hoe, or else mulch them. I think they grow faster if you stir the 
surface soil frequently and not mulch. I certainly would do this the first 
year or so after planting. For mulch on the lawn I would prefer gravel. 
It is neater and, perhaps, will keep the grass out better than anything else. 
You must fight the grass for best results until the trees are large enough 
to care for themselves. We have used lawn clippings as a mulch with very 
good results. 
If you have transplanted trees and set them properly, they will need no 
shading, and you can be reasonably sure that a large per cent will live and 
thrive, with ordinary care. This is especially true of the dwarf kinds. I 
would not advise you to buy expensive transplanted trees and just chuck 
them in a hole, as you would a cottonwood or willow, and expect them to 
thrive or even live. “‘What is worth doing at all is worth doing well.” 
We do not plant for ourselves alone but for future generations. 
Carbon Bisulphide is a liquid that is so volatile it quickly becomes a 
gas. This gas is deadly when inhaled. Hence it is great stuff for killing 
prairie dogs, woodchucks, skunks, etc., in their holes or vermin in buildings 
that can be tightly closed. Now its use as a fertilizer is suggested. Appli- 
cations of carbon bisulphide increased to a marked degree the yield of oats, 
corn, potatoes and beets in European experiments, but why it should do so 
has not been explained. 
