36 The Fruit-Growers Guide-Book 



old tree. Such trees cannot be handled to advantage, for 

 as a rule they must be headed very much too high on ac- 

 count of the lower limbs having been cut off, the very 

 limbs that the orchard man wanted to form the head. 



It does not pay to buy trees just because they are 

 cheap. Good trees cost money to grow, and the buyer 

 must expect to have to pay a good round price for good 

 trees. Cheap trees, cheap just because the nurseryman 

 wants to get rid of them, are too many times fit only for 

 the scrap pile. Buy nothing but good trees and then in- 

 sist on having that kind. If you can visit the nursery and 

 pick out your trees, so much the better. 



Time to Plant 



Fruit trees can be set out in either the late fall or early 

 spring months. In the Western states spring planting is 

 preferred, as the soil is then in much better condition and 

 more easily worked than in the fall. But in the rest of the 

 country the land is generally in good shape in the late .fall, 

 unless excessively wet or unusually dry. 



Fall planting has the advantage of getting the trees 

 into their new location with the least amount of time ^n 

 storage, and trees set out in the fall will make some root 

 growth during the winter and be in good shape to start 

 into growth in the spring. There is generally more time 

 for planting in the fall than in the spring and the work can 

 be done in better shape. 



When the planting must be deferred until spring care 

 must be taken that the trees are set out at the earliest 

 possible date. In rare instances it happens that the trees 

 have started into growth slightly at the time of planting. 

 Such condition is not serious, provided the trees have not 

 been allowed to make a growth of a few inches before 

 being planted. In any event it is always necessary to 

 prune the tree back somewhat at the time it is set. This 

 is done in order to equalize the balance between the roots 

 and the top. In digging the trees from the nursery the 

 greater portion of the root system is removed, and if the 

 trees are planted without an equal reduction of the top 



