104 



THE NEW HORTICULTURE. 



was put into the bottoms, trees were set two feet deep, the 

 holes rilled two-thirds with surface soil, and a bucket of water 

 to each hole, the weather having been dry for a long time. 

 After the ground had settled, the holes were filled level and 

 well firmed with the foot. The trees, of all kinds, not only 

 all grew, but no drouth afterwards even seemed to affect 

 them. The roots had necessarily been cut back quite short, 

 though he new nothing of the virtue of the method. Of 

 course, such treatment would be ruinous on level or moder- 

 ately rolling ground with a clay subsoil. No amount of rain 

 can ever water-log the rocky, porous subsoils of West Texas 

 hills, and trees of all kinds should be planted at least twelve 

 inches deep or deeper, all through that section. The rich val- 

 leys should be avoided for fruit, not only because of occa- 

 sional excessive rains, that for a few days render them a bog, 

 but worse still, because such locations are so subject to late 

 spring frosts as to render crops too uncertain. 



And now, as to the best time for planting close root- 

 pruned trees in the southern states. If asked the very best 

 month, I would say December. The young trees to be 

 moved have then gone completely to rest, and while the 

 ground is still warm enough to encourage root action, the air 

 is not sufficiently warm to stimulate a new growth of leaves 

 after planting, which often happens to trees moved in Novem- 

 ber, especially if from a more northern latitude. Still, Jan- 

 uary is nearly as good a month, and all through February 

 and March, up to the very starting of the leaves, if the soil 

 is moist, such trees may be planted with perfect success. But 

 they will not grow off as rapidly, or make as great a total 

 growth that season, as those planted earlier. At the North 

 and in the Middle States, as Prof. T. L. Brunk remarks else- 

 where in his article, if trees with so little root to hold them 

 down are set in the fall, especially on deeply pulverized soil 

 (a worse than useless preparation), there might be danger of 

 heaving from the action of frost. But that heaving could 

 easily be obviated by banking the earth up entirely over the 

 one-foot tops, thus protecting them the first season from the 

 cold, and mice and rabbits as well. The advent of hot 



