11 



fibers, and the hole carefully filled up, leaving the collar of 

 the tree one or two incees above the natural position when 

 taken from the nursery, to allow it to settle and remain at 

 the same level it occupied when taken from the ground, 

 Now press the soil gently and firmly around the tree with 

 the foot, trim off nearly the whole top and many of the 

 branches and the work Is done. No watering will be 

 necessary if the roots are fresh and the ground moist when 

 planting, 



WATER. 



Many pevjple recommend the use of water in planting 

 trees, and its continuance for weeks or months afterwards, 

 especially in a dry time. This is undoubtedly good prac- 

 tice when trees are of necessity planted when the soil is 

 dry ; but ordinarily the time is chosen after a shower, and 

 then there is no necessity. We were formerly in favor of 

 watering liberally and oHen, but in later years we have 

 learned by experience that if the trees were properly 

 planted in the first place, and the tap root from eighteen to 

 twenty-four inches long, that watering was labor lost ; arid, 

 in fact, we believe it to be actually detrimental to the 

 trees. 



We are speaking now of the climate of Florida where 

 there is usually from fifty to sixty-five inches of rain-fall 

 annually, which is so distributed throughout the year that 

 watering is unnecessary ; but in the rainless countries like 

 California and the Levant, where the rain-fall during eight 

 warm months is none or very little, irrigation is absolutely 

 necessary during the summer until the trees have reached 

 the age of five or ten years after planting, or until the tap- 

 root and laterals have reached down to a permanently 

 moist soil. The tap root oif an orange tree will extend 



