STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 105 
of direct profit it does not seem unreasonable to predict that the protection af- 
forded to our fields by a screen of evergreens about them, would increase the 
profits of their cultivation fully twenty per cent.” 
In driving through any section of country, that which always strikes us as 
one of the surest indications of the prosperity of a farmer is the beauty of his 
place. When we see a home surrounded and tastefully ornamented with trees, 
of which a goodly proportion are evergreens, we immediately think there is a 
home of a happy and prosperous family. Children brought up in such a home 
will always have pleasant memories of their early days. The home they look 
back upon will have a local habitation and a name. Very little of the poetry of 
life attaches to existence on our bleak prairies. Let us add all we can to it by 
making our homes beautiful and homelike in every way, by so sheltering them 
that to every one riding over our prairies they shall seem havens of rest. 
MR. GIBBS’ PAPER. ‘ 
EVERGRERNS. 
The beauty of the evergreen trees and their utility as windbreaks are gen- 
erally acknowledged, but there is a common impression among the people that 
it is difficult to grow them. The truth is, that if they are carefully dug and 
afterwards handled so as to keep the roots moist and without needless exposure 
to the sun and air, they are as easy to transplant and make live as any of the 
deciduous trees. At the nurseries it iscustomary to immerse the roots in a mud 
bath as soon as taken from the ground; then the trees are boxed with a packing 
of wet straw or moss for shipment, or if delivered in wagons to local customers, 
their roots are well protected with the same material. Before they are removed 
from the boxes or wagons the holes shou!d be got ready so that the roots can be 
placed in the ground the instant they are lifted from the packing. The same rules 
will apply to the preparation of soil and to the digging of the holes as to any other 
trees but a little more care is perhaps requisite in planting. ‘The roots must be 
straitened out in their natural position, the fibrous ones carefully placed with 
the fingers, and covered compactly with the best surface soil made as fine as 
possible. The trees should be set very firmly, and if large ones, stalked down 
on all sides, as they carry a good eeal of sail to the wind. ‘There is no need of 
putting water in the holes, but after the trees are set pour from one to three 
pails full of water around each, according to their size, and to prevent it trom 
running off draw the earth into a wash-bowl shape around the trunks. Now 
mulch heavily with old straw or barn yard litter for at least three feet in all di- 
rections and keep the mulch gocd for one or two years, till you can see that the 
trees are well established in their new growth. Then they will take care of 
themselves, although of course they will be better for a thorough spading and 
mulching every spring. 
Evergreens should always be set in the spring, and the earlier the better, after 
growing weather fairly commences. 
Of course reference is made here to nursery grown trees, which are always 
transplanted repeatedly in order to make them threw out a mass of fibrous 
roots and harden their foliage to fit them for ready and hardy growth when re- 
