382 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
The best sizes of evergreens to use in permanent timber planta- 
tions or for groups for ornament are those from fifteen to thirty 
inches high. Smaller than fifteen inches are not desirable, and 
larger than thirty inches are liable to have lost more roots in taking 
up and be more difficult to protect. They should be nursery grown 
trees that have been transplanted two or more times to ensure an 
abundance of roots. Bales of evergreens received from the nursery 
should be opened at once, the roots wet with water that is not too 
cold and is thickened up to the consistency of thick paint by 
dissolving clay init, and then heeled in immediately into mellow 
soil until they can be planted. Never allow the roots to be exposed 
to wind or sun while moving them from the trench to the planting 
ground, and until they are set keep them covered with wet blankets: 
We like best to plant them on land where a hoed crop was raised 
the previous year and that was plowed in the fall, but if they are to 
be planted in uncultivated ground larger holes should be dug, and 
it is better that they be dug the fall previous to planting. In 
planting, first dig holes ample to receive the roots without cramping. 
Spread them out in natural position, and work the finest of soil in 
among the roots using the hands, to make sure that it comes in 
contact with every root and fiber and that there are no air spaces 
left, and press very firmly about them. After the roots are well 
covered,the balanceof the filling may be done with the spade,tramp- 
ing quite firmly but leaving the surface about level,with an inchorso 
of loose soil on the surface. No manure or sods should be used in 
the holes or about the rootsin planting. If the soil is so wet at the 
time of planting that it does not crumble freely after being pressed 
together between the handsor if, as some practice, a bucket of water 
is turned in after the hole is partly filled, the tramping with the feet 
should be delayed until the soil has become sufficiently dry—but 
the hand work about the roots must not be neglected. Set trees 
about one inch deeper than they stood in the nursery, and it is 
generally best to apply a mulching of some kind at once. 
If the trees were good and well rooted, carefully dug, rightly 
handled and properly planted, the principal part of the subsequent 
care is to keep them from being run over or broken down by stock, 
keeping grass and weeds from robbing them of moisture and an 
occasional renewing of the mulching fora year or two or a frequent 
stirring of the surface soil with the hoe or rake. If it should be 
necessary to water at any time,it should be done at night or when 
the sun is not shining, and an occasional watering of the foliage 
with syringe or spray pump, using clean water as warm as the 
atmosphere and doing it after sundown or on cloudy days, is often 
very beneficial. Trees taken from swamps or forests or that have 
not been transplanted in the nursery should be partially shaded 
until they become well established. 
Mr. Somerville: I have had an experience in evergreen 
growing in the country for sixteen years, and I have never 
thought it was any advantage to water an evergreen after it was 
set out unless it was done right. To put water on the surface 
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