114 HORTICULTURAL MAXUAL. 



varieties, as we have secured better crops and more perfect 

 berries from the perfect-flowered Charles Downing when 

 alternated with a good staminated variety. Darwin's 

 great work on " Cross- and Self-fertilization in the Vege- 

 table Kingdom " was at first received with many doubts by 

 fruit-growers, but during recent years his axiom, that 

 " Nature abhors self-fertilization," has been quite fully 

 verified by scientists and practical horticulturists. 



123. Planting and Watering Trees. If the soil is well 

 firmed, over the wet roots (117) and the soil is moist but 

 not wet, it is rarely necessary to pour in water when 

 transplanting. Even in the arid States this should not 

 be practised, as firming very wet soil over the roots causes 

 hardening and baking. It is poor policy, for the same 

 reason, to transplant trees when the soil is wet and sticky. 

 If heeled in wait until the ground is friable and works 

 well. In orchard, with after-culture, watering is rarely 

 needed except in the arid States, where it is applied to the 

 whole surface, as during a rain. On the lawn, with ever- 

 greens and shrubs, watering may be needed. But such 

 watering should be systematized. Dig away the surface 

 earth around the crown and pour in water until the soil is 

 well soaked. When settled away return the soil to prevent 

 baking. Slight and frequent watering over a baked sur- 

 face does more harm than good/ 



In planting, many experienced orchardists lean the trees 

 to the south at an angle of about twenty degrees. When 

 trees are set in this way in the prairie States they become 

 upright in two or three years without making a crook in 

 the stem, while trees set erect are liable to lean to the 

 north (20). In climates where trees set erect are not 

 liable to lean to the north, the inclination to the south in 

 setting is not required. 



124. Transplanting Evergreens. Evergreens taken up 



