THE NURSERY. 31 



sent out sound, as has been said, and must be fully 

 decided upon. A black hearted tree should not be 

 sent from the nursery, and it is not necessary. By 

 the practice here described we can know positively 

 that the trees are sound, as well as if they were 

 transparent. It is not so serious a matter if the 

 tree should in its later growth, when established in 

 orchard, become so in its shoots, as it will in most 

 cases any way, but the trunk and larger limbs of 

 the tree are its life, and these should be sound and 

 strong to the heart. 



All nurserymen doing any considerable business 

 will dig their trees with the tree plow or digger, as 

 the work is done well and quickly. If to be dug 

 with a spade great pains should be taken to get a 

 good proportion of roots and not in a mangled and 

 bruised condition. 



Do all the work in nursery at the right time If 

 this is not done, in many cases the work is doubled, 

 and is then not done properly. This is particularly 

 true of keeping the small trees clean. The proper 

 time to kill a weed is before it grows. 



If workmen go among them with hoes they 

 should be instructed to be very careful not to 

 scrape over the grafts, as it is liable to break them, 

 or in any case greatly damage them. A pronged 

 hoe that will straddle the tree is of use. We have 

 Had a common four-tined pitchfork straightened 

 and the tines, about 3 inches from the end bent to 

 a right angle or less, making it somewhat hooking, 

 and found it a very good tool for this work. 



