MANAGEMENT OF NURSERIES. 155 



growth by the loss of growing buds or foliage. For the same 

 reason all other sprouts, except from the inserted bud, should 

 be kept constantly and closely rubbed off. 



About midsummer or a little later the projecting stubs 

 (already mentioned in Chapter III.) should be carefully pared 

 down to the growing shoot. The sooner this work is done 

 the better, that the cut surface may heal over, provided the 

 shoot has become strong enough to prevent the danger of 

 breaking out. 



Digging or Lifting the Trees. When nursery-trees have 

 grown sufficiently for removal and transplanting, they may be 

 taken up any time between the cessation of growth in autumn 

 and its recommencement in spring, when the air is not freez- 

 ing and the ground is open. If a whole row is to be lifted at 

 a time, the labor may be be lessened by first ploughing a fur- 

 row away from the row on each side. Then two spades made 

 of steel and strong enough to bear the full weight of a laborer 

 are placed on opposite sides of the tree at a distance of a foot 

 or more from it. The blades, which are at least fifteen inches 

 long, are thrust downward to their full length into the soil 

 under the tree. A lifting motion raises it with the principal 

 roots entire. Spades for this purpose, costing several dollars 

 each, are manufactured only by the best edge-tool makers in 

 the country. Before or at the time of removal the trees 

 should be marked with wooden labels furnished with copper 

 wire to fasten them to the limb. They are made of pine or 

 other suitable wood, about half an inch wide, three inches 

 long, and one-twentieth of an inch thick. A very thin coat- 

 ing of white-lead paint applied just before writing the name 

 with a common black-lead pencil renders the letters perma- 

 nent; but they will last a year or two if the letters are written 

 on a moistened surface. If written dry they wash out in a 

 few weeks. 



Packing for Transportation. Millions of fruit trees are every 

 year purchased by the farmers of our country. A large ma- 

 jority of these are conveyed long distances from the nursery 

 by railway. Much of their safety from injury on the road, 

 and their consequent success when set out, depends on the 

 manner of packing. Trees may be packed so as to open from 

 the bundle or box, after being tumbled over iron rails a thou- 



