REMOVING AND TRANSPLANTING TREES. 95 



grow faster than those on other trees. Every tree that 

 was planted on the surface succeeded in a most satisfac- 

 tory manner, and yielded as much fruit as any others. In 

 1868 we saw them bending beneath a bountiful burden of 

 fruit. In after years we planted many trees on the grassy 

 surface, always with the most satisfactory results. On 

 stony fields, in rocky dells, and on lawns, where the ground 

 can not be ploughed, and where disturbing the sod is ob- 

 jectionable, there is no more satisfactory way of planting 

 trees of any kind, or bushes, than to spread out the roots 

 on the sod and cover them with a little mellow earth ; then 

 mulch the surface. 



Effects of Planting too Deep. The roots of trees are 

 things of life ; and they must have the benefit of the air as 

 well as the growing branches. Almost any fruit-tree may 

 be killed in one or two seasons except when it stands in 

 certain favored spots simply by filling earth around it, 

 say two or more feet deep. Many a valuable tree, stand- 

 ing in a low place, has been killed in consequence of the 

 earth being filled in around it when grading the surface of 

 the ground. 



We well remember a large apple-tree, now in full bear- 

 ing, which was taken up in the winter, with a large ball of 

 frozen earth at the roots, and placed in a deep hole in the 

 orchard. It was probably set too deep ; because, for nearly 

 fifteen years, that tree did not flourish well nor produce 

 fruit even tolerably fair. But as soon as it sent out a sys- 

 tem of roots near the surface of the ground, it began to 

 grow rapidly, and to bear abundantly, and is, at the pres- 

 ent writing, a flourishing and productive tree. 



The first apple-trees that we transplanted were set too 

 deep, as we found, three years afterwards, that they were 

 sending out a system of roots all around the bodies, near 

 the surface of the ground, while about four inches below 



