90 HAND-BOOK OF TREE-PLANTING. 



faction. Neglect here in order to secure a 

 speedy planting will furnish another illustration 

 of the truth of the proverb, " Haste makes 

 waste." The planter on the prairie which has 

 never been broken may, perhaps, venture to 

 plant his corn or sow his wheat upon the 

 freshly-turned sod without further care, and 

 those plants of a season will give him a suffi- 

 cient return for his labor, for there will be 

 enough pulverized soil to meet the demands of 

 their short life. But if he is about to grow a 

 crop of trees, how inadequate does such treat- 

 ment appear to any intelligent mind ! It is only 

 a waste of time and ground. Let him rather 

 hasten slowly. Let him plant no more trees 

 in any given year than he can plant properly 

 and well. A hundred trees so planted will be 

 worth more to him than a thousand thrust into 

 ground not suitably prepared. 



Let him break up his ground in the spring 

 or early summer that is, at the customary time 

 and in the autumn cross-plow it or turn it 

 again, sinking his plow as deep as he can. The 

 next spring let him plow again, and go over 

 the ground with the harrow, lightening the labor 



