PROPER AGE FOR PLANTING. 91 



cultivation of such small trees. Tlie disadvantages 

 of planting small trees are, that they are liable to be 

 injured by the plow, and browsed by cattle, accident- 

 ally or intentionally admitted, or by the animals used 

 in tillage. Perhaps the most formidable objection is, 

 tliat the owner w411 regret what he deems the w^aste 

 of a valuable piece of ground for so many years ; and 

 against his own judgment sow or plant an injurious 

 crop among his trees. 



There is, howevei', a much better method of treat- 

 ing young trees, than to subject them to the chance 

 of all these evils. If they have not been transplanted 

 or root-pruned, select those of two or three years' 

 growth, and prepare a piece of ground for the home 

 nursery. For this a rich, deep, dry soil should be 

 spaded and thoroughly pulverized, to the depth of 

 two feet. In it plant the trees in rows four feet dis- 

 tant, and three feet apart in the rows. Two hundred 

 trees would here occu2)y a space iifty feet square. 

 The roots having been carefully examined, and, as 

 before mentioned, the laterals pruned to six or eight 

 inches, are spread out horizontally, and gently covered 

 with earth. It will be seen that the labor of pinching, 

 j)runing, and cultivating, will be much less on so small 

 a spot, than when the cultivator is obliged to travel 

 over the three or four acres, upon which they are ulti- 

 mately to be planted. 



If at the end of two years it is still desirable to 

 allow them to remain, a sharp spade should be thrust 

 down around them, at a distance of fifteen or eighteen 

 inches, in order to cut the long straggling roots, and 

 thus induce the formation of roots nearer home. This 



