146 GRAFTAGE. 



ing as possible. When the stock is not being handled, a 

 slight frost does no damage. 



In heeling-in trees in the open for the winter, care should 

 be exercised to select a well-drained and protected place. 

 The roots are placed in furrows and covered, and the tops 

 are laid down almost horizontal. Another row is lapped 

 over the first, much as shingles are lapped over each other. 

 Loose straw or litter about the place should be removed or 

 tramped down, else mice may rest in it and girdle the trees. 

 An excellent device to keep mice out of a heeling-in yard 

 is to place a foot board on edge all about the place, leaning 

 the top out a little. Hold the boards in place by stakes, 

 close up the cracks, and tramp the earth against the bot- 

 tom of the boards, and the mice are completely fenced out. 

 If it is necessary to cover the tops of peach and other 

 tender trees, evergreen boughs will be found to be the 

 most satisfactory protection. 



Trimming Trees in the Nursery. One of the chief efforts 

 of the nurseryman is to make his trees stocky. Many fac- 

 tors conspire to produce this result. Any treatment which 

 makes trees grow vigorously may be expected to contribute 

 to their stockiness, if the grower does not circumvent it by 

 some subsequent operation. The trees should be given 

 plenty of room. The rows in the nursery should stand 

 3J^ feet apart, for ordinary fruit trees, and the plants should 

 stand 10 inches or a foot apart in the row. During this 

 first year, the leaves should not be rubbed off the bodies 

 of the trees, else the trees will grow too much at the top 

 and become too slender. If, however, strong forking or 

 side branches appear low down as often happens in sour 

 cherries they should be removed. Budded stock should 

 reach a height of 4 feet or more the first year. The fol- 

 lowing spring, the stock is headed-in uniformly, reducing 

 it to the height of 3 or 4 feet, according to kind and the 

 uses for which the stock is grown. In New York nur- 

 series, the average apple stock is headed back to a height 

 of about 3 feet 3 inches to 3 feet 5 inches. Sweet cherries 



