172 Care in Planting Trees 



cutting back. Such species are, besides the various hickories 

 and other nut trees just mentioned, the magnoHas, beeches, 

 persimmon, and nearly all conifers, which are noted for 

 the paucity and delicacy of their root-hairs and the ease 

 with which these dry out, while their recuperative power 

 is small; hence they require the greatest care in handling 

 from the nursery to the plant hole. There is, then, consid- 

 erable variation among the species, calling for more or less 

 care in handling them, although with properly prepared 

 nursery stock only the following simple rules need to be 

 observed in order to be successful. 



In setting a tree into a new position care should be had 

 to make it easy for its roots to resume their function and to 

 recuperate and form new rootlets as soon as possible. Three 

 conditions are favorable to this object: sufficiently loose soil, 

 sufficient supply of water, and close contact of soil and root. 



Plant holes are usually dug too small. Roots are often 

 crowded into narrow space, offering a limited feeding area, 

 and find themselves placed against the hard sides of a lazy 

 man's hole. Make the hole twice as large in circumference 

 as seems necessary and fully as deep, so as to secure a com- 

 fortable amount of loose soil for roots to grow into. If 

 practicable, the hole should be dug in the fall when the dug 

 soil will be comminuted by the winter frost, and be in best 

 condition for planting in the spring. 



If the soil is not of satisfactory consistency or composition, 

 supply a better soil, garden mold, or sandy loam, at least 

 enough to imbed the outlying rootlets. This is especially 

 often necessary in street-tree planting. If there are good 

 and poor layers of soil coming out of a plant hole, keep them 

 separate and fill back in such a manner that the best soil 

 comes to the use of the rootlets, the poor layers on top and 

 near the trunk. Soil from an old pasture or from along the 



