62 HORTICULTURE, FORESTRY, FLORICULTURE 



SELECTING TREES FOR PLANTING. 



Although nearly every person who plans to conduct an orchard 

 and who buys fruit trees is particular as to the character of the tree 

 which he buys, nevertheless, thousands of trees are planted every year 

 which are not suitable for orchard purposes. That this condition 

 should exist may be due to the combination of a number of causes. 

 There are three, however, which will account for the planting of the 

 greater portion of inferior trees. 



Very frequently the buyer has no well defined idea as to what 

 the tree should be. A second cause is that he does not state explicitly 

 in his order just what kind of trees he wants. Even if he fulfills the 

 first two requirements, he often fails to refuse stock which has been 

 sent to him which does not come up to the specifications in his order. 

 Even though he knows that they are practically worthless he plants 

 such trees simply because he does not care to take the trouble to make 

 the nurseryman furnish him good goods or because of the delay 

 that will be entailed. 



The nurseryman is not always to blame because a buyer gets 

 inferior trees. There are many things which makes the filling of 

 nursery orders difficult, but probably the chief reason why so many 

 poor trees are sent out from the nursery is because the average buyer 

 is dissatisfied unless he gets a large tree with a heavy top. In his 

 attempt to satisfy the demand for large trees, the nurseryman very 

 frequently is obliged to sacrifice the very things which would make 

 the tree most valuable. 



Some buyers apparently think that all varieties grow alike, and 

 having an ideal in mind, want all trees to come up to that ideal. 

 Such a thing is impossible. A Fameuse tree will not grow like a 

 Northwestern, any more than a Jersey cow will resemble a Short- 

 horn, but because it will not do so does not mean that it is inferior 

 to the Northewestern. The first thing the buyer must have in mind 

 is what the ideal for the variety is, and then judge his trees accord- 

 ingly. There are some general requisites, however, which can be 

 considered in common. 



Age of Trees for Planting, Unfortunately nursery trees are 

 commonly sold by size rather than age. Size is not necessary a cri- 

 terion of the worth of a nursery tree. In fact, it is a worthless factor 

 in judging unless considered in connection with age. A six foot 

 tree may be four or five years old, but it would be a much poorer tree 

 than one of the same variety four feet high and three years old. A 

 great many trees are being carried in the nursery until they are 

 long past the best age for planting, simply to get them to a large size. 

 This is particularly true of slow growing varieties. 



The true standard then, for buying trees is the age. In this 

 course, size should be considered to the extent that the tree should 

 be of good size for the variety at that age. A two-year-old Fameuse 

 then would probably be much smaller than a two-year-old Duchess 

 or Northwestern. 



How to Determine Age of Trees. It is very easy to determine 1 

 the age of a nursery tree. The age is counted from the budding or 



