196 Fall and Sfring Planting. 



principles." It must not be understood, from this, that fall planting 

 here never succeeds ; for there are frequent exceptional cases of trees 

 planted in autumn making a fair growth ; but it is certain that they are 

 purely exceptional. Why } 



When a tree is planted in early autumn, the soil is warm. The 

 wounded roots at once commence healing, and throw out numerous 

 fine young rootlets, to replace those removed in the process of digging. 

 Now, it is a well-established principle, that the growth of new roots, 

 and the formation, of callus, — when there is no foliage on the tree, — 

 is mainly at the expense of nutriment previously stored up in the tree, 

 and not formed of new material, freshly taken from the soil and atmos- 

 phere. When winter sets in, we have a tree weakened by this unusual 

 and unnatural drain upon its resources. What is the I'esult .'' Usually 

 very little snovs^ falls in this region. The ground freezes terribly hard, 

 and often several feet deep ; and these new, tender rootlets and the 

 forming calluses are killed like sprouting corn. The wounded roots 

 decay, and the remainder, weakened by the loss of needed nutriment, 

 are seriously injured, and often killed outright. Spring usually finds 

 the roots of fall-planted trees in this condition. 



Now, how about the top? This portion of the tree has also contrib- 

 uted from its precious stores towards the formation of those short-lived 

 roots ; and then, with its vitality weakened, its reserved forces exhausted, 

 and its supplies cut ofl', it is asked to brave the terrors of a north-western 

 winter. The dry winter blasts that sweep across these prairies call 

 imperatively for moisture : every living thing must contribute its quota. 

 The poor, fainting tree, with no source of supply but a few dead and 

 dying fragments of roots, is drained and sucked at every pore through 

 the weeks and months of the long winter. Unite to this the terrible 

 ordeal of cold, as indicated by the mercury going down ten, twenty, 

 thirty, and even forty degrees below zero, and it will take but a small 

 amount of thouglit to decide that a tree thus situated must be in a very 

 poor condition to strike new roots, push out new leaves, and go on 

 vigorously repairing tlic losses of the past, and building up a new 

 structure for the future. 



In short, then, viewed from this north-western prairie stand-point, 

 " theoretically, it is apparent that the fall-planted tree has great " dis- 



