120 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



of the improved or cultivated pear ? And what may not deep 

 terra culture yet accomplish ? 



The tap root of a tree is cut off in the nurseries or destroyed 

 when taken up elsewhere ; then why may not the remaining 

 roots be set deeper as a substitute for the loss ? And if the 

 other roots are thrown out, what is the harm ? Indeed, why 

 has it a tap root at all, if deep rooting is not necessary ? Our 

 practice, however, is, to plant so deep that the existing roots 

 shall throw out laterals in all directions, but not to require 

 them from the collar of the tree. We never lost a tree by 

 deep planting. Some are thereby later putting out in the 

 spring; and we have adopted a plan in some instances of not 

 bringing all the earth around the tree till after the leaves have 

 started, and even much later, when it answers well for mulch- 

 ing. Planted in this manner, we have yet to learn whether the 

 late growth of wood will not ripen to withstand the winter. 



Let us be understood as advocating deep planting only when 

 the soil has been properly prepared. We would sooner place 

 a tree on the surface of the ground and heap dirt around it 

 than thrust it in a hole barely large and deep enough to receive 

 its roots. We can conceive of no more certain way to destroy 

 a tree than this exposure to half a dozen mortal causes. A 

 tree set in such a basin, with a hard stratum beneath, is liable 

 to be drowned ; the water excludes the air, and the tree is 

 stifled. Even if good loam is put around the roots for early 

 use, when they are obliged to extend laterally into soil unfitted 

 for them the tree starves. When a drought occurs, the hard 

 ground at the circumference of the roots becomes dry first at 

 the very point where there should be the most moisture and 

 nourishment, and the tree is "withered, dried up from the 

 roots." Should it survive all these, the water freezing about 

 the roots may throw it from its position, or long-continued 

 stagnant water will end its days sooner or later. 



The amateur cultivator occasionally loses some of his trees 

 in winter, both fruit and ornamental, and forthwith declares 

 such species or varieties not hardy. Wo doubt not many rare 

 and valuable trees and shrubs, deciduous and evergreen, not 

 now supposed to be sufficiently hardy to endure our climate, or 

 only half hardy, will be found, by repeated trials in thoroughly 



