PLANTING STOCKS — SOILS SUITABLE. 65 



PLANTING STOCKS — SOILS SriTABLE, ETC. 



It is of the highest importance that only the very 

 best rooted plants, either of quince or pear, should be 

 planted in the nursery. Mr. Barry, than whom there 

 is no higher authority, says, in his excellent work, 

 "The Fruit Garden," that " one hundred good, vigor- 

 ous stocks are worth five hundred poor ones ;" and 

 some of us will live to see the day when customers 

 will pay five times more for a perfectly healthy, 

 well-grown tree, than they will for a poor, or even 

 a medium one." There are a few purchasers now of 

 the same opinion. It lias been customary to crowd 

 the nursery rows with all the plants that promised to 

 survive, planting them only eight inches apart, and to 

 bud them all, without discrimination, during the fol- 

 lowing summer. The consequence has not unfre- 

 quently been, a feeble growth from those buds that 

 barely survived ; a thrifty growth in the vigorous and 

 healthy stocks; and complete failure in one half of the 

 number planted. 



When stocks are strongly rooted, they should be 

 planted in the fall — provided the ground is ridged up 

 against the rows, to prevent heaving out in the winter. 

 If weakly rooted, and no extra care is intended, they 

 should be buried in light, dry soil, placing the roots 

 thickly together in a trench, and filling it up within 

 a few inches of the top. This should be done 

 early, in order that the ground may be firmly settled 

 by rains, and packed about the roots before it is 

 frozen. 



