PLANTING AND CARE OF SHADE TREES AND WINDBREAKS. 



were killed. Trees protected in this 

 way blossomed later, remained in bloom 

 longer, set more fruit in proportion to 

 the number of apparently perfect flowers, 

 and held their fruit better than any other 



trees on the station grounds. This is 

 the most effective means of winter pro- 

 tection tried at the station, but it is pro- 

 bably too expensive for commercial or- 

 chards. 



PLANTING AND CARE OF SHADE TREES AND 



WINDBREAKS. 



rectly where the trees are wanted, as the 

 walnut is a little difficult to transplant 

 owing to the large tap root and the 

 absence of fibrous roots. This condi- 

 tion applies to most of the nut-bearing 

 trees. The walnut begins to bear at 

 Picton when planted about eight to ten 

 years, and although the nuts are quite 

 strong flavored they are relished by some 

 people. For planting, the nuts should 

 be gathered when ripe and not allowed 

 to dry. They can be kept out doors by 

 packmg in a box of sand, or may be 

 planted directly where desired. Cover 

 the nuts three inches deep, mulching 

 lightly ; keep down grass and weeds and 

 use plenty of manure. When once 

 started the trees increase in diameter 

 about half an inch every year. Ameri- 

 can sweet chestnut is grown for commer- 

 cial purposes mostly in the natural state, 

 but when planted in the clearance makes 

 a good shade tree. The leaves are 

 nicely serrated and glossy, giving the 

 tree a beautiful appearance. 



Hickory nuts have grown quite popu- 

 lar in the markets, and in selecting for 

 planting, only use from trees bearing 

 good sized, plump meated nuts. These 

 and the chestnut require the same treat- 

 ment as mentioned for the walnut. 

 Basswood, when planted in the clear- 

 ance, forms a pretty, compact-shaped 

 head, and besides being valuable as a 

 timber, shade, and ornamental tree, it is 

 a source of the best crop of honey pro- 



C A p: ^HERE is great room for im- 

 provement in the country dis- 

 tricts of Ontario by planting 

 shelter belts of native trees. 

 With strange madness the farmer has 

 wantonly destroyed from the borders of 

 his fields beautiful ornaments which 

 nature had provided, and which would 

 have afforded a wealth of attractiveness 

 to his lawns and gardens, and as a 

 result his houses and barns are bare of 

 shade, and of those beautiful clumps of 

 trees which would have screened the 

 unsightly, and shown off the interesting 

 features of the house. 



With the hope of encouraging tree 

 planting, especially about our fruit farms, 

 we give place to a paper in the Farmers' 

 Institute report, by Mr. Alfred Brown, 

 of Picton, Ontario, a member of our As- 

 sociation : 



"Farmers generally do not take advan- 

 tage of the very easy and sure way of 

 adding value to their real estate by 

 planting our native trees in neat lines 

 along road sides and lanes, around build- 

 ings and yards, in waste or unsightly 

 places, or bluffs that are too rough for 

 cultivation. These places, planted with 

 black walnut, I believe, will be as good 

 an investment as the same area of apple 

 orchard on suitable soil, although divi- 

 dends will not be realized from the 

 walnut timber as early as from the ap- 

 ples. American black walnut can be 

 grown better by planting the nuts di- 



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