HANDLING AND PACKING EVERGREENS FOR DELIVERY. 43 1 



HANDLING AND PACKING EVERGREENS FOR 

 DELIVERY. 



ROBT. WEDGE, ALBERT LEA. 



There is scarcely anything in the line of nursery stock which 

 requires as careful and skillful handling as do evergreens. In 

 digging them, in getting them to the cellar or shed (whichever 

 the case may be), in grading them, in packing them and in 

 keeping them after packing, it should always be borne in mind 

 that we are handling trees with the leaves on and that there is 

 a constant evaporation of moisture from these leaves. We 

 scarcely ever think of moving, and much less of shipping, a 

 deciduous tree with the leaves on. Of course, there is not as 

 much evaporating surface on the leaves of evergreens, and yet 

 there is enough to make it a delicate matter to transplant them 

 successfully. 



I shall only treat of the subject of how they should be 

 handled after being ready to dig for the market, but it is just 

 as important that they be grown in the proper way. It is a well 

 known fact that evergreens which have been allowed to grow 

 vear after year without being cut under, as we call it in the 

 nursery, which is really just a pruning or cutting back of the 

 roots, are very difficult to transplant, as the fibrous roots, which 

 are the roots that get most of the nourishment for the tree, are 

 so far from the trunk that they are not retained in the digging. 

 This is one of the main reasons why it is so difficult to get trees 

 from the w'oods to grow when transplanted. These trees grown 

 close together are weak and hard to make live. 



The first thing is the digging. This is one of the hardest 

 things to teach new hands, as it is very important that it should 

 be done quickly and in the proper manner. The roots of ever- 

 greens, especially those of the pines, peel, break off and split 

 very easily. Some new hands w^ill pull the evergreens instead of 

 digging them ; others will cut them off near the surface ; and still 

 others — but these are few and far between — will take unneces- 

 sary pains. These points should be thought of in the digging: 



I. Evergreens should be dug, not pulled. 

 ■ 2. We should be careful and not injure tops. 



3. If there are hard lumps of dirt left on the roots which 

 w^ill not shake off easily, as is often the case in clay soils, they 

 should be crushed, for if they are shaken off they will take some 

 of the fibrous roots with them. 



