HOW TO PLANT. 109 



In multitudes of instances the want of proper 

 care after planting has blasted the planter's 

 hopes. Sometimes this neglect is the result of 

 simple ignorance. The planter knows little 

 about trees. So far as he has seen them, in 

 forests or in orchards, he has seen them left to 

 themselves, growing without having any care 

 or culture bestowed upon them, and he thinks 

 he may treat his trees in the same way. But 

 after-care is as important as proper planting, 

 especially in the case of young and tender 

 trees, such as are commonly used in extensive 

 planting. The tree-planter should consider it 

 as important to go between the rows of trees, 

 from time to time, with the hoe or the culti- 

 vator, as to go between the rows of corn. It 

 is important, for precisely the same reason, to 

 keep down the weeds and grass and to stir and 

 open the soil so that the air, the rain, and dew 

 may readily penetrate it. After giving the 

 trees such care for two or three years, they 

 will have thrown out branches to such an 

 extent as to shade the ground sufficiently to 

 suppress the growth of weeds, and thenceforth 

 they will take care of themselves, except that 



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