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CARE OF EVERGREENS. 3838 
of the ground only crusts it over, and evaporation will take out 
the moisture faster than if it had been left alone. If I want to 
water an evergreen at all, I want to take the dirt away down 
to pretty near the roots, and then put in plenty of water, lots 
of it, and then cover it up with dry dirt, forming a dust blanket 
to stop the evaporation, and in treating them in that way I 
never had any difficulty in making evergreens grow. I have 
at home, I suppose, as many evergreens as can be found on 
any farm in Minnesota, and I have planted them and planted 
them successfully, and if it was dry in August I have watered 
them in that way, by taking the ground away down pretty near 
to the roots, and then putting on plenty of water and covering 
with dry dirt, and then mulching. In that way you can set 
evergreens out successfully, if they have been handled right 
before you got them. Mr. Elliot’s way of handling evergreens 
is a practical way, and the only way it can be done successfully. 
‘There are more evergreens in the section of the country where 
I live and in my immediate neighborhood than in any other 
place [ever saw. They have taken a great notion to setting 
them out there because they are ornamental as well as useful. 
Around our home we do not know whata blizzard is. Wehave 
no drifts of snow around our home. I have evergreens around 
the orchard, I have them around the garden, around the house 
and around the drives in such a way that we scarcely know 
when a hard wind blows. They are from forty to sixty feet 
high,and they are so thick an animal can scarcely get between 
them. The best evergreen we can set out is the white spruce. 
It does better with me by far than any other evergreen I have on 
the farm, yet I have everything; I have the blue spruce, the Nor- 
way spruce, the red cedar, the Colorado blue spruce, and they 
are all good for protection, but I think more of the white spruce 
than of anything else Ihave. The Norway spruce loses its 
color, but when you have the white spruce it is just as fine in 
winter as itis in summer, and it grows thicker and closer 
together. It isan upright grower, and it grows as fast as the 
Norway. With us the arbor vitz will not stand the drouth. 
It is useless to set them out; they have all surface roots. When 
the ground gets dry they will die out. With the white spruce 
it is different; that has a tap root that runs down into the 
ground, and it will live through a dry season almost as well as 
the red cedar. 
Mr. Harris: I cannot see that there is any difference between 
