54 FRUIT-GROWING 



If the trees are to remain for some time be- 

 fore planting, a great deal of care should be 

 used in heeling them in. A trench should be 

 dug wide and deep enough to take in the roots 

 of the largest of the trees, and in this trench 

 the trees are actually planted — temporarily. 

 See that the earth is worked in around the roots 

 so that no air spaces are left — and if the trees 

 are to stand over winter they should be ar- 

 ranged so that the tips of the branches point 

 to the southwest. The reason for this is that 

 the southwest sun in winter comes at the warm- 

 est part of the day and as a result it warms up 

 and thaws out frozen objects which are not 

 touched by the warmth of, let us say, the eleven 

 o'clock sun. It is highly desirable that the 

 frozen tissues of the young trees should not be 

 thawed suddenly by this hot southwest sun- 

 shine. It is always the sudden freezing and 

 thawing that injures wood tissues and fruit 

 buds. Consequently by placing the trees in the 

 trench so that they point to the southwest we 

 avoid much of the direct effect of the sun in 

 the early afternoon. 



Again, if the trees are to remain long in the 

 heeling-in trench it should be dug at a place 

 where water will not stand. It is not a good 

 thing to permit fruit trees of any sort to stand 

 with the roots in water for any length of time. 



If the trees are to be heeled in for only a short 



