174 HOW TO LIVE IN THE COUNTRY 



of these, and a good market requires about ten or 

 twenty for complete succession. Your little home lot 

 will be complete with a dozen varieties, reaching 

 through the whole season. With these, carefully 

 studied as to planting, pruning, and storing, you will 

 have a wonderful addition to your food and a sur- 

 plus for sale. 



It is the diameter and not the height that deter- 

 mines the value of a young apple tree. For planting 

 it should stand about five or six feet after it is dug 

 and four or five feet after planting. No possible 

 price should tempt you to plant a lot of trees no 

 larger around than your finger. If such trees are 

 ever received, cut them down within three or four 

 inches of the scion ; then let new shoots start, and in 

 this way you can make a new trunk, possibly one 

 that will be worth the while. 



Having got your trees, take them from the box 

 or bale at once and trim them to very nearly bare 

 poles. If you have a stream near by, it will do no 

 harm to immerse the whole tree for an hour or more. 

 It is better to make a puddle in which the roots 

 may lie over night, or for a few hours. If not to be 

 planted very speedily, let the trees be heeled in, that 

 is the roots and part of the trunks buried in moist, 

 but by no means wet, soil. These dormant trees 

 must not be so rapidly supplied with water as to 

 start root growth before they are set in the orchard. 

 It is sometimes advisable to buy your trees in the 



