44 THE AMERICAN APPLE ORCHARD 



quick eye to set a tree in position by sighting in both 

 directions. 



The planting gang is now put to work. It should 

 consist of four men. The first man prepares the trees 

 for setting by separating them from the bunches and 

 by pruning them with a pair of sharp pruning shears 

 which he carries in his hip pocket. He then goes 

 ahead of the other three men and drops a tree at each 

 place. The duty of the second man is to hold the 

 tree in position while it is being planted. The third 

 and fourth men carry shovels and fill the soil in about 

 the roots. It is the duty of the third and fourth 

 men also to sight the tree into position. As soon as 

 one tree is planted the second man walks forward to 

 the next tree, picks it up and places it approximately 

 in position. One of the shovelers who has stayed be- 

 hind for the purpose sights forward down the row to 

 bring the tree into line with the stakes. He motions 

 to the man who holds the tree until the alignment is 

 secured. The other shoveler meanwhile has stepped 

 to one side where he is able to sight down the line in 

 the other direction and in like manner to indicate the 

 cross alignment for the man who holds the tree. As 

 soon as the tree is placed in its proper position the 

 two shovelers begin to fill in about the roots, one from 

 one side of the furrow and the other from the other. 

 Two or three shovelfuls of earth from each shoveler 

 are quite enough in most cases. These are tramped 

 down quickly by the man who holds the tree, and the 

 gang proceeds rapidly to the next point, where the 

 operation is repeated. 



After a little practice, planting can be done very 

 rapidly in this way, and very efficiently, too. If the 

 long, spreading roots are all cut off, as already ad- 



