30 THE NURSERY. 



and may by reason of this delay make too late a 

 growth the next year and be in condition to dam- 

 age the second winter. If this does not occur, and 

 the work is done carefully so as not to be a severe 

 shock to the tree, there can be no objection to it. 

 Another way is to lay them down and cover with 

 earth. Three persons are required to do this fast; 

 one goes ahead and presses them down with a 

 spade or fork and two others follow and cover. It 

 is said that three men will put down 10,000 in a 

 day. 



Another plan is to cover the field with straw, 

 hauling on something like ten loads to the acre. 

 This is the plan we have pursued, but it is labor- 

 ious and expensive. Another plan is to sow oats 

 thickly in the fall, soon after they are harvested, 

 sowing about 6 bushels to the acre. Some use 

 buckwheat, which is better in fall as it grows taller, 

 but does not make so good a mulch for winter as 

 the oats. 



If we wish to make hardy long lived trees we 

 must send them to the planters sound, and we can- 

 not do that in this latitude, except in a very few 

 varieties, without in some way protecting the trees 

 the first and generally the second years. 



Should the trees prove to be discolored in the 

 spring the tops should be cut off and a new tree 

 grown from the sound wood below, as there is no 

 way to cure a tree that has become discolored. This 

 has been described in another chapter. 



It is of the utmost importance that the trees be 



