222 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL, SOCIETY. 



planting. If evergreens be transplanted after the ground thaws out, 

 but before the buds start, many of them are inclined to carry out the 

 process of living with such foliage as they already have and neglect 

 to develop new shoots or, at least, defer it until very late in the 

 season. Even deciduous trees sometimes attempt to get through 

 the season with such activity as the chlorophyl in the young twigs 

 affords, but with them a severe pruning is sufficient to awaken them 

 to the duty of putting forth leaves. As this is impossible with ever- 

 greens, it is generally conceded that middle spring is not a good 

 time to transplant. 



Looking toward the end that deep freezing is to be avoided so 

 far as possible, the soil in which evergreens are planted should be 

 loosened to a great depth. Four feet is not too much for a tree six 

 feet high. If the soil is hard and clayey, the object will be still bet- 

 ter accomplished by filling in the bottom with coarse gravel and 

 brickbats with enough good soil to encourage the roots to grow 

 downward below the frost line. A^^ien this position of the roots is 

 once attained, so that they may supply the moisture given ofif by 

 the tree in the bright, sunny days of winter, it may be considered 

 a permanent feature of the landscape. 



Of the half dozen varieties of evergreens grown on the station 

 grounds at Fargo the white spruce easily stands first in hardiness 

 and general good qualities. Individual specimens of the arbor vitae 

 and jack pine have endured the vigors of many seasons and are still 

 unscathed. The most hopeful feature in the cultivation of ever- 

 greens in the Red River A'alley lies in the fact that they don't freeze 

 to death Init. instead, suffer worst in mild and open winters, from 

 causes that are more or less under our control. The most fatal 

 period in the last ten years was in March, 1895, when strong warm 

 winds blew from the south, and with fatal caresses induced the 

 exposed ones to give up their last spark of life. In days to come 

 sheltering groves will furnish a benign protection, and in the future, 

 as in the remote past, the evergreen will grace with its rich verdure 

 the land of the Dakotas. 



Mr. W. L. Taylor: I would like to ask you about the trim- 

 ming you spoke of. 



Prof. Waldron : Well, the idea is to get the trees down deeper 

 in order to get the roots below the frost line ; it is necessary to get 

 the roots down deep. 



Mr. A. P. Stevenson ( :Man. ) : Have you the Scotch pine? 



Prof. W^aldron: Yes. but they all killed out in that marsh. 

 The ground was pretty well dried out, and they could not supply 

 the moisture. 



Mr. G. D. Taylor: Do you find the jack pine easy to trans- 

 plant ? 



