APPLES. 203 



high. If the trees are larger, cover them up in clean moist earth, roots 

 two feet deep, top six inches. If the location has a sandy subsoil the trees 

 should be set six inches deeper than they grew in the nursery. The holes 

 should be five feet across and three feet deep, and in planting fill the holes 

 with rich clay loam. If the subsoil is clay dig the holes large enough to 

 let the roots extend in their natural shape. Cut the ends of all roots 

 smooth with a sharp knife. Fill the holes full of rnelloic. rich surface soil, 

 stamping firmly the first six or eight inches in the bottom of the hole. If 

 the earth is dry put a pail of water on after filling the hole one- third full, 

 and let it soak in before filling the hole. Make a box out of boards eight 

 inches wide and the height of the tree. Set it around the tree; then fill 

 with fine earth. Bank up outside a foot high, and after the ground freezes 

 cover the bottom with straw manure and the tree is safe for the winter. 

 Remove the straw, box and earth after the frost is out of the ground in 

 April, and the tree will make a srood growth the first season if the ground 

 is kept well cultivated till 10th of July. Don't cultivate later than that 

 each year. A thin mulch applied to the ground then will be of benefit to 

 prevent the growth of weeds and retain moisture. The mulch should ex- 

 tend four feet each way. About the last of October put up the box and 

 fill with earth again up to and covering the lower forks or crotches of the 

 tree; remember this. The first winter the limbs and trunk should stand 

 in the earth, and the second winter, also, if it does not bend the limbs up 

 too much, but if the limbs are too large to bend easily let the box only 

 come up so as not to rub the limbs. A tree once frozen up solid in earth re- 

 mains so till the earth thaws in the spring and the frost comes out of the 

 tree through the earth instead of having the sun take it out several times 

 during the winter and spring. A tree protected in this way, with three 

 inches of earth and an inch of board will not freeze as hard by twenty de- 

 grees in an extreme cold time as a tree exposed to the weather, and if pro- 

 tected, a large share of the starch and other substances stored up in the 

 body of the tree (mainly by the leaves in the summer) will remain there 

 till spring and aid in making a vigorous growth the next summer; while 

 if not protected the starch and other reserve food substances will have 

 been largely exhausted from the trunk of the tree by spring; and the cellular 

 structure of the wood disorganized by the cold, freezing and thawing, will 

 become what we call black hearted. This plan of taking care of the trees 

 must be kept up for five or six winters. The trees will then be as large 

 as they would in eight years without any protection, a gain of two or 

 three years in five. The tree will then be in a much better condition to 

 stand extremes of heat and cold, drouth and winds than a sickly, black 

 hearted tree. Its roots will have run twelve feet in all directions and the 

 freewill then be able to take care of itself, and if not abused afterward by 

 bearing too much fruit the first four or five years will live to be forty years 

 old, if it is a tree with a constitution like the Peerless or Duchess. The 

 difference in the capabilities of a tree well cared for and one not cared for 

 will be as follows, five years after being planted: 



Trees cared for by this plan produce from 5th to 10th year, 15 bushels; 

 10th to 15th year, 20 bushels; 15th to 20th year, 40 bushels; 20th to 30th 

 year, 100 bushels; 30th to 40th year, 125 bushels; making a total crop of 300 

 bushels. Three hundred bushels valued at $300. Now look at the average 

 tree with common care, lives fifteen years, bears in all five bushels, value 

 $5.00. Difference in value $295.00. 



