TRANSPLANTING AND CARE OF EVERGREENS. 221 



In the larger towns the clustered buildings afford some such 

 conditions, and evergreens are grown with a reasonable measure of 

 success. My own efforts have been toward growing evergreens in 

 open and exposed locations. Where several hundred have been 

 grown in a body and the whole protected at the sides by belts of 

 deciduous trees ten to twelve feet high, the experiment has been 

 really successful, but of the isolated specimens and clumps of a 

 dozen or so here and there but a few of the hardiest ones remain. 

 Single specimens planted among deciduous trees that had made con- 

 siderable growth have also passed two years successfully. 



In the Red River Valley, where the fall is usually dry and the 

 snow fall apt to be light, the ground becomes dry in winter, and in 

 freezing wide cracks open up that extend to a depth of several feet. 

 Nothing can be more fatal to trees than a condition like this, and to 

 prevent it I continue the cultivation of trees up until the time that 

 winter sets in, and if the soil is unusually dry add a good covering 

 of mulch, for the double purpose of retaining the moisture and de- 

 laving the freezing as long as possible. Whatever tends to make 

 the soil loose and friable also keeps it from freezing so deeply, and 

 for this reason deep cultivation seems to be an advantage. I find a 

 one horse moldboard plow a convenient tool for this purpose, to be 

 used about the middle of the season, afterwards gradually working 

 the furrows back with an ordinary cultivator. The transplanting 

 of an evergreen is quite as important a matter as its subsequent care. 



I will pass over those points that must be taken account of in 

 every locality, points that you, at least, are all familiar with, and 

 speak only of those measures that apply especially to conditions 

 found in the prairie regions of the northwest. I would meanwhile 

 beg your indulgence for any savor of the first person that these re- 

 marks may have, as I am somewhat of a pioneer and have not been 

 favored with the opportunity to personally observe the work as car- 

 ried on by others. 



When the trees are small so as not to make the process too ex- 

 pensive, I find a good time to transplant evergreens is in very early 

 spring before the ground is thawed out. The holes for the trees are 

 dug the fall before, and the soil around the tree may be loosened up 

 with a narrow ditching spade so that the part left directly about the 

 roots of the tree may be taken up intact when the time comes, with- 

 out great difficulty. Filling in around the tree after it is placed and 

 covering with a mulch completes a process that probably cannot be 

 improved upon so far as good results are concerned. After this, 

 the best time seems to be early in June, when the tree has wxll started 

 its season's growth and keeps right on in spite of the shock of trans- 



