26 FRUIT CULTURE IN GENERAL. 



SETTING OUT TREES. 



It requires three men, or two men and a boy, to set out trees as 

 it should be done. Before inserting the roots into the hole prepared 

 to receive them, they should first be dipped into mud made of _ the 

 rich surface mold, to cause the earth to adhere to all theii* parts 

 This done, place the tree in its proper position in the hole, shovel in 

 a small quantity of the finely pulverized mold, and then give it a 

 gentle shaking suddenly up and down, in order to settle the dirt 

 closely about the roots. One person to hold the tree to its proper 

 position, while another shovels in the earth. When a sufficient 

 quantity of the earth has been placed upon the roots to bring it 

 level with the surface of the ground, tread it down gently with the 

 foot, and then add more, rounding it to a slight mound, with the stem 

 of the tree for a center. The tree should be placed in the hole so- 

 as to allow it to stand about as deep, when the earth becomes- set- 

 tled around it, as it stood in the nursery. 



It is recommended by some to plant the tree in the orchard in the 

 same relative position to the points of the compass that it occupied 

 in the nursery. This may or may not be beneficial; at any rate, it 

 can do no harm, and it is quite an easy matter to mark the tree be- 

 fore it is lifted, so as to indicate its position. 



If the planting be done in autumn, there should be a mound of 

 earth ten inches to a foot high, and three feet in diameter, raised 

 around the tree to steady it, and protect its roots from frost and the 

 bark from mice. When the ground becomes well settled in the 

 spring, the mound should be removed. 



TRIMMING. 



Before setting out, each tree should undergo a proper degree of 

 trimming. This requires considerable judgment. As the brandies 

 and roots of a tree depend upon each other for support, it will 

 readily be understood that neither should be overtasked. In re- 

 moving it from the nursery, all the small fibrous roots, and some- 

 times many of the larger, are lost; hence the top must be trimmed 

 to correspond. To do this properly, all the leading shoots should 

 be shortened back one half or two thirds of the current year's 

 growth; and, if the roots have been much injured, the leading 

 branches should be lieaded back still more. 



