54 PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS UPON TREE-PLANTING. 



high, may be planted humediately iuto 3-foot or 4-foot rows. His ad- 

 vice in the choice of kinds for different situations was as follows : 



For hedges aud screens, not intended to grow higher than 8 feet, plant the American 

 arbor vita3 ; for higher hedges aud screens, plant Norway spruce ; for wind-breats, 

 sheltering orchards, &c., plant Scotch pine or Norway spruce. 



For ornamental planting, use Norway spruce more freely than any other evergreen. 



I would i)articularly call your attention to the European or Tyrolese larch, as un- 

 doubtedly the most valuable timber-tree for extensive planting, combining the dura- 

 bility of the red cedar with rapidity of growth, extreme hardiness, freedom from dis- 

 ease, and adaptability to almost every variety of soil.' 



EVEEGEJEEN SEEDLINGS. — OBSEEVATIONS OF H. M. THOMPSON, OF 

 SAINT FRANCIS, WIS. 



, Losses have very'often been experienced in transplanting evergreen 

 seedlings, and these have often been attributed to the fact that they 

 had been grown in the shade ; but this result, Mr. Thompson thought, 

 was not wholly due to the sudden transition from shade to sunlight, 

 but to other causes, such as the pulling up of the plants instead of 

 digging with a spade, imperfect packing, and exposure of the roots to 

 the air. It is well known that shade is one of the most essential re- 

 quirements of a young evergreen plant, enabling it to retain an equable 

 volume of moisture, and preventing evaporation from the soil. In order 

 to ascertain what would be the result of exposure to full sunlight, in 

 the spring of 1874 he had removed the screens from several beds of one^ 

 year-old Norway seedlings and Scotch pines, and from two year-old 

 Austrian pines and arbor vitaes. During May aud a part of June, the 

 moisture was sufiBcient for a fine growth, and favorable to the de- 

 velopment of buds and ripening of the wood. But for five successive 

 days in July, the heat was excessive, rising from 98 to 103 degrees ; the 

 surrounding objects tended to hinder a free circulation of air, and the 

 heat and evaporation must have been excessive. 



In autumn it was found that the loss of the Norway spruce was about 

 fifteen per cent. ; arbor vitte fifteen pel* cent. ; Scotch pine less than half 

 of one per cent. ; Austrian pine no loss. The loss of the former of these 

 was attributed to the fact that the lateral roots of these species of seed- 

 lings grow nearer the surface, and are, therefore, more liable to injury 

 from heat aud evaporation. In August of the same year, he trans- 

 planted 10,000 Scotch pines from the beds that had been exposed, with 

 a loss of less than half of one per cent. lu June and July, 1873, he 

 transplanted about 30,000 Norway spruce, two to six inches in height, 

 without loss; these transplantiugs being at an unsual season of the 

 year, but in a cool, damp atmosi:)here, and in a wet soil after a rain, the 

 June and July transplanted seedlings being sheltered by lath screens; 

 the August planting of Scotch pine having no protection until nearly a 

 month after the transplanting was completed. His practice had been 

 for years to bed out all seedlings less than six inches in height, and pro- 

 tect them the first season with a cheap screen ; larger sized seedlings 

 =iither bedded out or planted in nursery rows and mulched ; the loss 

 from drought under this treatment being too trifling to mention. His 

 deductions from these observations were — that nursery-grown seedlings 

 having an ample supply of roots, if properly handled, planted, and 

 cared for, will survive aud produce satisfactory results.^ 



' Transactions of Kansas State Horticultural Society, lfc72, \>. Iti2. In some localities 

 the larch, grown rapidly, has come to the size of a fine-looking tree before its wood 

 has hardened, and such timber by no means justifies the reputation for durability here 

 given. Our experience with this tree has nos yet been sufficiently long to enable us to 

 determine how far this valuable property in the timber will be acquired by age. 



* Transactions of Wisconsin Stute Horticultural Society, 1S75, p. DO. 



