44 



®hc lamia's ittontljto Visitor. 



not be all alone in the cold wide world, and that 

 when yon liave pnssi il from earth it may he said 

 ofyoiij "He left the earth more beautiful than he 

 found it." 



But I promised some remarks of a more prac- 

 tical nature. Having had considerable practice 

 in planting trees, 1 will give yon the results of so 

 much of my experience, as I deem may be useful 

 to your subscribers — and especially upon those 

 points, in which the opinions of men have dif- 

 fered. 



Cultivation of Trees. 



Few persons have any correct idea of the ra- 

 pidity of ihe growth of well cultivated trees, and 

 many are deterred from planting them, by the 

 consideration, .selfish at the best, that they shall 

 not live to reap the fruit of their labors. Such 

 persons may derive encouragement from the 

 statement of a few facts. In the Spring of 183(3, 

 I set out in front of my office at Chester, two elm 

 trees. They were then so small that I could 

 easily carry eilher of them with the full top, upon 

 my shoulder, and were perhaps two or three 

 inches in diameter. I measured them carefully 

 in the fall of 1847, and found them of equal size, 

 and each measuring 45 inches in circumference 

 They stand about eighteen feet apart, and some 

 twelve feet from the building, for which they form 

 a perfect protection from the summer's sun, their 

 branches already being thickly imerladed. The 

 elm is in that neighborhood, of more rapid 

 growth than the rock-maple, or indeed than any 

 other forest tree. An apple orchard may he 

 brought to commence hearing in four years from 

 transplanting from the nursery, which should he 

 the second or third year from the time of bud- 

 ding. By the eighth or tenth year, your orchard, 

 well managed, will pay you annually for all your 

 trouble and expense in plaining it, and will con- 

 tinue productiVe as long as you have any right to 

 expect to live. 



Peach trees usually bear the third year from 

 the stone, and the second from the bud. 

 Productiveness of .'Ipple- orchards. 

 I have already seen in I he Visitor notices of 

 the produce of several orchards in Chester. Mr. 

 Robinson's welf-known orchard of about two 

 acres, produces annually a clear income of from 

 five to ten hundred dollars. The net value of 

 the product of the year 1847, was estimated at 

 one thousand dollars. 



I sold the apples on Hie trees in the small or- 

 chard on my lather's homestead in Chester, last 

 year, for one hundred dollars, after selecting 

 eight barrels of the best fruit for home consump- 

 tion. The trees are all upon about one-hall' acre 

 of land, and the crop was not unusually large or 

 valuable last year. I am convinced that there is 

 mi oilier source of so great profit open to New 

 Hampshire farmers, as the raising of good grafted 

 w inter apples. The Baldwin apple is at Chester, 

 the most profitable, for the market, being ji far 

 greater hearer than any other, and being the fav- 

 orite apple in the markets at Manchester, Low- 

 ell, and 1 think Boston also. It hears only every 

 second year, hut frequently produces upon a sin- 

 gle tree, six or eight barrels of fruit. Mr. Rob- 

 inson's orchard is principally of Russets, ami bears 

 every year. The Russet is thought to require 

 higher culture and a di \cr soil than ihe Baldwin. 

 It ran he kept throughout the year, and conse- 

 qifently I. ears a higher price than any other spe- 

 cies raised among US. The various species of 

 Greening are not much raised in this county, at 

 leasi ill the wcslei n part of it, being found less 

 productive in quantity, than ihe other varieties 

 named. 



Manner of Planting .Ipp'.e-lrees. 



I will give you the details of my mode of plant- 

 ing apple trees, which I have sufficiently tested 

 In feel confidence in offering to your subscribers. 



The soil should be ploughed as deep as possible, 

 and if trench-ploughed to the depth of a font and 

 a half, it would be better. A fruit tree should 

 7ifffr be set in sward laud, and if ihe soil has 

 been well cultivated a year or two before Ihe 

 trees are set, it is in its hot condition. The 

 trees may be set from 25 to ,'J5 feet apart. There 

 is much difference of opinion oh ibis poinl. I 

 know rif orchards where the trees aie only about 

 20 feet apart, and shade the w hole ground, and 

 yet are very productive. 1 believe it is a sellled 

 laci | luii apple trees do not grow so large upon 



the old fields in Rockingham county as they did 

 in former years when the land was newly clear- 

 ed; and lam inclined to think that budded or 

 grafted trees brought into bearing by careful 

 culture at an early age, and kept productive by 

 high cultivation, are smaller in size, and shorter- 

 lived than the natural stock on a harder soil. 



Having prepared and carefully staked out your 

 plot of ground, draw an accurate plan of it, and 

 number the place of every tree, and enter the 

 name of it when planted, for an apple without a 

 name will never find a market at its value, and 

 besides, you will never know what varieties to 

 adrl to your orchard, without a memorandum of 

 this kind. 



Have the hole for each tree made six feel in 

 diameter and eighteen inches deep — re-place the 

 lower stratum of excavated earth with rich 

 mould, and fill the hole around the tree with soil 

 made very rich, by mixing with the soil thrown 

 out, a sufficient quantity of well-rotted manure. 

 In plaining an orchard at Exeter recently, on a 

 soil sandy and rather poor, I used about eight 

 bushels of compost manure to each tree, having 

 thoroughly mixed it with the soil from the holes 

 about a week before procuring the trees. This 

 quantity will not appear too large when we con- 

 sider that an excavation of the dimensions given 

 will contain a pretty good cart-load. 



Set the ireo no deeper Ilian it grew in the 

 nurserv, and be careful to separate the roots and hut little, as it is hard work, in a hot and busy- 



away its top — protecting it against this common 

 cause of injury. 



Having carefully pared off the broken ends of 

 the roots — and filled the hole about half full of 

 good soil, place your tree in its position, and if 

 you intend to set posts or slakes by it, do it be- 

 fore covering the routs, that you may not muti- 

 late them. Carefully cover the roots with fine 

 loam, nearly to the surface level. Then spread 

 over the whole surface of the hole, a half bun- 

 dle of straw, or as much hay, which is to he cov- 

 ered with earth three or four inches deep. The 

 straw should never be omitted in planting a for- 

 est tree of the size named above. The effect of 

 it is, to prevent the evaporation of the moisture 

 about the roots. Examine in your barn-yards or 

 anywhere else where the ground is covered with 

 hay or straw, and in the time of severest drought, 

 you will find moisture. It will also keep the soil 

 about the tree light for several years, and admit 

 ihe free passage of the water. Fruit trees from 

 the nurseries, being small, and their roots being 

 more carefully preserved, do not require so much 

 care, as large trees from the forests. If your 

 trees are by the way-side, box them up, so that 

 cattle may not break them down, nor your friend's 

 horse devour them, while he is making you a 

 morning call. It is worse than useless — it is 

 sheer lolly — to set a tree unprotected in the 

 street. As to watering trees, I have practised it 



fibres from each other, placing no manure in 

 contact with them, and leaving no holes under 

 the roots. Use your own hands in ibis opera- 

 tion, unless you have a very careful man to help 

 you, and see that every root is extended to its 

 natural position, and that none are matted to- 

 gether, or crossed, or curled up. Before setting, 

 the ends of the broken roots should be smoothly 

 cut off with a sharp knile, and the sun should 

 never shine upon the roois, nor should they be 

 suffered to dry more than is unavoidable. Hav- 

 ing filled up so as to leave the ground a litlle 

 higher about ihe tree than elsewhere, your work 

 is done. The trees should not be. pruned much, 

 if any until the next year, when they will be 

 growing rapidly, and will more readily heal. If 

 you set them ill the fall, heap about the tools 

 sand, if convenient — if not, soil — lo the height of 

 about a foot, to protect the tree from the cold and 

 the racking of the wind, while the ground is soft, 

 until the next April. Keep the whole ground 

 under cultivation, and suffer no weeds gr grass 

 lo grow about ihe trunks: prune the trees into 

 proper shape as early in A ; nil, May or June, as 

 is convenient, and hold the plough yourself, that 

 they may not he ruined by carelessness in tilling 

 the land. If you have enriched ihe land about 

 the trees, as directed, no manure will lie necessa- 

 ry, except in the ordinary course of high cultiva- 

 tion of hard crops, for four or five years. 

 Planting Ornamental trees. 

 In transplanting our hard-wood forest trees, the 

 holes should he made at least six feet in diame- 

 ter, and eighteen inches deep. 



Of the elm, rock-maple, and ash, which are 

 our finest shade trees. I have usually transplanted 

 trees of about three inches diameter, selecting 

 those frt.llj open fields rather than the thick 

 woods, and from such soil as would allow their 

 removal with least injury to the roots. I have 

 repeatedly taken elms from wet swamps and 

 planted them on hills and in sandy soil, and found 

 them lo flourish apparently as well as those pla- 

 ced in locutions similar to that of the original 

 growth. My practice has been, to cut away one 

 half at hasl of Ihe top, either by shortening the 

 branches or removing the lower ones, according 

 lo the shape I desire to give the tree. I know 

 there is much difference of opinion on this 

 point, ninny persons objecting to pruning ihe lop 

 at all. I can point out to such persons living in- 

 stances of elms and maples w hii-ll were set out 

 without a single branch or bud upon them — mere 

 bare poles — twelve feet high, cut down from tr^es 

 which were twice that height, which have in ten 

 years formed as handsome lops as any that can 

 he found. One reason why ii is necessary to 

 lesson ihe top is, that otherwise the winds are 

 likely to rack ihe tree, ami break off ihe small 

 roots, as fast as they are formed. No skill in 

 transplanting a forest tree can prevent ils death, 

 without in some way — eilher by slakes, or large 

 stones upon its roots on the surface, or by cutting 



season, and not usually necessary. If trees are 

 set as I have directed, a copious watering two or 

 tbree limes in the season will be enough. I have 

 no doubt that it is a positive injury to any forest 

 tree to water it daily, or even two or three times 

 a week. . 



Transplanting Evergreens. 



There are no trees more beautiful than the 

 white pine— the hemlock and the fir — trees of 

 our own hill-sides, and yet comparative few of 

 them are seen about our dwellings. The reason 

 is to be found partly in the want of a just appre- 

 ciation of what is so common, and partly in the 

 idea that this class of trees cannot be successful- 

 ly transplanted. Mr. Emerson, in his valuable 

 report to the Legislature of Massachusetts on 

 their forest trees, has adopted ihis erroneous im- 

 pression, and therefore recommends sowing ihe 

 seeds of the pine, rather than attempting lo re- 

 move the tree itself. 



In the month of April 1847, at Exeter, with 

 the aid of two men and one horse and a long 

 wagon, 1 transplanted one hundred and forty 

 while pines from a distance of nearly a mile, and 

 they are all now alive, and apparently likely to 

 thrive, except one. They were removed before 

 they had made any growth for Ihe season, but 

 just as the buds were bursting, which 1 think is 

 a safe season for moving any tree, although apjde 

 trees, and the hardy forest trees and even the 

 pine and hemlock may he planted in autumn if 

 more convenient. The method adopted in plant- 

 ing my pines may he given in few words. I se- 

 lected trees on Ihe open pine plain, from five to 

 eight feet high, then with a spade cut down 

 round them, leaving a circle of turf nearly two 

 e et in dianier about each tree — then lift the tree 

 up, which two men could readily do, and set it 

 upright ill the wagon. About twenty' would 

 make a load for a horse. At the place of plant- 

 ing, a hob: lo correspond with the ball of earth 

 about the rools, was made, and the soil at the 

 hoiloni of it, made light and ihe tree set in and 

 trodden down, and a little earth spread over to 

 make a gootl joint, and the work was done. No 

 manure, or water, or slakes were used, and no 

 knife applied to the lops. 



Evergreens should be planted in groups or 

 masses, or should be in someway shaded, to thrive 

 well. My trees made a growth of about a foot 

 last seuson, nearly equal to that of those which 

 bad not been moved. I have transplanted ever- 

 greens in .May and June, and with care, many of 

 them survived ; but an earlier month is better. 

 In those parts of New Jersey and Maryland, 

 where the while pine does not grow naturally, it 

 is seen beautifully mingled with the native trees 

 about their mansions, sought lor and transplanted 

 with cure, and ils light and graceful foliage, and 

 ils stalely form appreciated, because it is not com- 

 mon. In no way can ihe bare walls be so readily 

 shaded, or the starched and blank landscapes so 

 readily and beautifully variegated, as by planting 



