334 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



start out in the sunshine, and then allow the tree to be exposed to 

 the weather until you dig- the hole. Dig the hole before you remove 

 the tree froin the place where you should have it carefully covered. 



" Don't " dig the hole for your trees like a small post hole, as many 

 do; but dig a hole not less than three feet in diameter and two feet 

 deep and fill in with good surface soil until it leaves the tree when 

 set about four inches deeper than it stood in the nursery. Have 

 the hole fuller in the center than outside, that the roots can have 

 their natural incline downward. 



"Don't" cover the top roots and under roots all at one time, as if 

 you were planting some old broom, but carefully cover the under- 

 roots first and press well the soil around them; then comb out with 

 your fingers the top roots, cover well until you have the hole about 

 one-half full; then get in and tramp the soil as solid as possible, 

 and keeping the tree straight up and down while tramping; leave 

 about an inch of loose soil on top. " Don't" fill the hole quite full 

 with soil but put on your mulching of old straw or manure. To the 

 old man I would say, " don't " set the boys to do the setting out, but 

 look after that matter yourself. It will pay you. 



" Don't " cut the roots off, in order to save digging the hole a little 

 longer. It wont pay. 



" Don't " abuse the nurseryman, if your trees .have not done well, 

 if you failed to do well your part. "Don't" plant your trees and 

 then allow the grass and weeds to take possession of your orchard, 

 and should any of them die "don't" make the argument, as some 

 do, that it was necessary in order to shade the trees and keep the 

 ground from drying out. Mulch well your trees as soon as set; that 

 will help hold the moisture at the time the tree needs it most. 

 " Don't" put it off for two or three years before 3^ou do it, and then 

 wonder why it is that your trees do not look as thrifty as those of 

 your neighbor, who did his work right at the proper time. Recol- 

 lect that a tree half planted is money and time thrown away. 



" Don't" be afraid to get down on your knees on such occasions, if 

 at no other time. " Don't" be afraid of mother earth. " Don't " think 

 it will result in a run of fever, if you do get a little dirt under your 

 finger nails. Better borrow an old pair of pants from your less pre- 

 tentious neighbor than not do well your work. 



I will suppose that some of you have done all that is necessary to 

 raise an orchard; that the trees are all growing nicely, looking 

 thrifty and healthy, no blight or other trouble among them; that 

 they are getting to be quite large trees. " But," say you, "Why don't 

 my trees bear apples?" You think that they are large enough, much 

 larger than your neighbor's trees that were set at the same time, 

 but his trees have been in bearing two or three years. You can see 

 that his trees look rather sickly and that some are dead, yet, as he is 

 g-etting apples and you none, you conclude that there is something 

 wrong somewhere and that you have been swindled again by some 

 villainous nurseryman by selling you trees that do nothing but 

 grow. You conclude that you will stand this condition of things 

 no longer; that you must have apples and that right away; that you 

 have waited long enough for fruit — a bad condition of things, to be 



