FOREST SEEDS, SEEDLINGS AND CUTTINGS 41 



PROTECTING TENDER SEEDLINGS. 



The oaks, hard maples, walnuts, basswoods, and other choice sorts need 

 protection from hot and cold winds. Plant young box elders on both sides 

 of the rows, and when they are strong enough to take care of themselves, 

 remove the supports. 



SCREENS FOR THE TRUNKS. 



Use any white but not tarred paper. Wire-screens are a reliable safe- 

 guard against the depredation of mice and rabbits, but the most satis- 

 factory disposal of these rascals is their extermination. 



HOW TO MANAGE TAP-ROOTERS. 



Spread the nuts thickly over a brick pavement or layer of broken stone; 

 cover with rich soil and keep moist. Instead of tap-roots, the plants are 

 compelled to send out an abundance of laterals, and such can be safely 

 transplanted. 



TRANSPLANTING LARGE TREES. 



Dig circular trenches around the trees you wish to transplant, say three 

 or more feet from the trunks, and, when the ground is solidly frozen, 

 draw them down with the team, thus retaining the roots imbedded in the 

 dirt. Haul to the lawn, and plant in the great holes dug the fall before, 

 staying the trees with long timbers, or better with wires. This feat being 

 performed in the winter when the sap is stagnant, the roots are protected 

 from damage, and in the spring when the old elms wake up, they will 

 hardly notice the change, except from the new associations they have 

 formed. 



CULTIVATION. 



It will not harm the young seedlings in the least, but help them greatly, 

 when the weeds peep up, and before the leaves have unfolded, if you drag 

 the harrow over. This saves a great amount of time and labor. Soon 

 after this process, the soil must be stirred by the cultivator frequently and 

 more and more shallow as the season wanes. By the middle of July hold 

 up. The cells of the plants have then about reached their full develop- 

 ment. They must now have time to ripen for the winter's ordeal. If you 

 cultivate later you dangerously prolong the ripening process, thus quick- 

 ening the circulation and weakening the plants. Let the weeds then grow; 

 they are a splendid protection, trapping, too, the snowy mantles. Living, 

 healthy plants next spring success ! 



HOW TO MANAGE OUR DRY SOILS. 



As to soil, there is no country on the continent better adapted to success- 

 ful tree culture and all sorts of plant culture, than the prairie. The soil 

 possesses the necessary ingredients. It is dark colored, and, therefore, 

 heat-drawing from the sun. It generally has under the surface soil a clay 

 sub-soil that holds the subterranean water from running away. It exists 

 in sufficient quantity in depth for all our purposes. 



