No. 11. 



Transplanting Fruit Trees. 



337 



county, N. Y. My father said he could not 

 help me any, but I might sow the " hill lot" 

 with rye. It was a thin, slaty soil — no wa- 

 ter in the lot, and on that account had never 

 been laid to pasture, but had always been 

 sown to rye or buckwheat as long as I could 

 remember. I summer-fallowed it, ploughed 

 deep, bringing the sweat out of the team 

 pretty profusely. In the fall I sowed it with 

 wheat. Next harvest I had the best wheat 

 in the neighbourhood. 



Now this shows two things, that rye does 

 not much exhaust the land for wheat, and 

 that by frequent and deep ploughings, some 

 land can be recruited without much manure. 



In 1798 or '99, I ran in debt for a farm in 

 what was called the " Little Nine Partners." 

 It appeared to be a poor slaty soil ; all the 

 plough fields on the farm had been sown to 

 rye for a number of years. I summer-fal- 

 lowed, clovered, and plastered, and got up 

 the name of the farm, sold it, and bought a 

 better farm in Red Hook. The soil of that 

 was sandy and dry. I managed it as I had 

 done the other. My Dutch neighbours 

 taught me something about raising wheat. 



I next bought a farm in the town of Scho- 

 dack, Rensselaer county, N. Y. After living 

 there some years, I bought a piece of worn- 

 out land, about thirty acres, adjoining the 

 farm, of a sandy and cobble-stone soil. 

 Soon after planting, I broke it up, and gave 

 it a good coat of plaster, harrowing it over 

 several times in the course of the summer, 

 kept it clean from weeds, and in the fall 

 sowed it with wheat, and had a good crop. 

 I stocked it down in the spring with clover. 

 It is called a good lot to this day. 



I merely tell this that farmers need not 

 be afraid to purchase what is called "worn- 

 out land," provided it is not too wet. Let 

 farmers manure as much as they can. I 

 now live where we need but little manure; 

 but "thorns and thistles shall the earth bring 

 forth, and in the sweat of thy face shall thou 

 eat bread all the days of thy life." From 

 this there is no escape. 



Wm. Canfield. 



Granville, Ohio, March, 1847. 



Transplanting Fruit Trees in the Spring 

 and Autumn. 



First prepare the ground where they are 

 to be put, so that water will not remain on 

 or near the roots. Examine the roots of the 

 tree before planting, and cut out all rotten 

 or defective root?, and cut in (shorten) all 

 that are bruised or otherwise injured, to 

 sound wood above the wound. Be careful 

 not to plant too deep, as this may be fatal to 

 your tree. 



If the tree does not put out shoots in the 

 spring, at the usual time, or as soon as others 

 do that were planted at the same time, give 

 it one good watering at the roots, and no 

 more while it remains in a dormant state ; 

 but if the bark remains fresh, or does not 

 turn black, wash the head and body with a 

 water pot or syringe every evening at sun- 

 down, until it begins to shoot or grow, when 

 you may cease watering the head, and water 

 the roots if required. I have had trees to 

 remain until the last of July without putting 

 out a leaf or shoot of any kind, and after 

 that become as fine specimens as any in my 

 garden. 



No manure should be put to fruit trees, 

 except it be a little vegetable manure, quite 

 rotten, and that mixed with the earth that 

 is to cover the roots. The question is fre- 

 quently asked, whether it be best to plant 

 fruit trees in the spring or autumn. This, 

 in this latitude, must depend on the soil into 

 which they are to be put. If the soil be a 

 wet, clayey one, it is best to plant in the 

 spring; but if it be a light, gravelly soil, 

 the autumn is preferable, because you gain 

 four or five weeks in the growth of your 

 plant in the spring. 



If water be allowed to remain about the 

 roots of trees that are recently planted, and 

 are not growing, it will probably rot them 

 by becoming stagnant and putrid. Trees 

 should be planted therefore, so that the wa- 

 ter will run over and off the roots, which is 

 all they require to afford them nourishment. 



Watering the head and body of a tree 

 that is tardy in putting forth its shoots, is 

 the safest, and indeed the only sure mode of 

 bringing them out, while a continued water- 

 ing of the roots is almost sure destruction 

 to them. 



Trees planted on a south wall or fence, 

 that do not put out shoots in due season, 

 should be covered for several hours, when 

 the su-n is out, if the weather be warm. 

 The leaves may be considered a sort of suc- 

 tion pump, which draws up the moisture 

 from its roots and produces its increased 

 growth, whereas a tree without leaves, and 

 that is not already attached to the ground, 

 has no means of carrying off the moisture 

 from the roots. For example, if two branches 

 of equal size and weight, the one with leaves 

 and the other without them, are placed in 

 vessels containing an equal quantity of wa- 

 ter, and exposed to the sun, the one having 

 leaves will take up the greater part of the 

 liquid, while the other will consume com- 

 paratively little. 



Some ten years ago, I imported from Paris 

 two hundred and ten pear trees on quince 

 stocks, whose roots, on their arrival, I found 



