PRACTICAL TREE PLANTING. 25 



Then there is the bass wood or linden, a very pretty tree. 

 Its foliage is a light green and it has a fine large heart- 

 shaped leaf, and the tree, growing- as it does, into a pyramid 

 shape, makes a fine contrast to the elm and the dark-leaved 

 oak. This tree requires the same treatment in planting- as 

 the elm. It is important that the soil should have g-ood 

 drainag-e, and a soft or more mixed loam to the roots. Bass- 

 wood seedlings are more difficult to raise than those of the 

 elm. The seed should be mixed in wet sand and allowed to 

 remain out of doors all winter, then sown in the spring. 

 This is done to soften the seeds before they will germinate. 

 All hard seeds or shell seeds may be served in the same man- 

 ner. For example, the mountain ash, the thorn and the oak. 

 Cuttings of bass-wood may succeed very well, but this greatly 

 depends on the weather, for cuttings like moisture and also a 

 sandy soil. 



The oak I have found a very stubborn tree. I have 

 transplanted it and it has lived, but I have had very little 

 success with it. It will not stand pruning. If it is trans- 

 planted it must be put into the same kind of soil as it has 

 been growing in before, and make the soil just as solid, for 

 the oak likes to be firm. But since you must not prune, that 

 means that you must get a large clump of earth at the roots. 



Next come the native birches, which make a pretty con- 

 trast, owing to their various colors, for they are white, red 

 and yellow. It is best to get the tree, though these can be 

 had from the nursery, or grown from seeds, the same as the 

 elm, but will not need so much pruning. The cut leaf weep- 

 ing birch grows well and makes a fine ornamental tree for 

 the lawn. This, of course, must be had from the nursery. 



THE TIME TO PLANT. 



As I have already stated, the spring is the best time for 

 most trees. The reasons are, that if planted in the fall the 

 hard wooded trees have not the same amount of sap in them 

 that the maple, for instance, has, and consequently when the 

 sun comes out in the spring it thaws out the tree but not the 

 roots, and, as stated before, this exhausts the sap and dries 



