180 



THE NURSERY-MANUAL 



A first-class tree is well grown; that is, the various opera- 

 tions to which it has been subjected by the nurseryman have 

 been properly performed; the work- 

 manship is good. It must be mature, 

 that is, not stripped of its leaves before 

 the foliage has ripened. It must be of 

 the proper age for planting. It must have 

 a clean smooth bark, a stocky, strong 

 trunk, good roots, and be free of borers 

 and other insect injuries. The union 

 at the bud or graft must be com- 

 pletely healed over if sold at two years 

 or above (peach trees are seldom healed 

 at the selling age) . Stocky and rather 

 short trees, with well-branched heads, 

 are preferable to very tall ones. Very 

 Self-registering slender trees, if above one or two years 



old, should be avoided. 

 Nurserymen express the size of a tree by its diameter about 

 two inches above the bud or crown. The measuring is made 

 with a caliper or gage (Figs. 203, 204, 205). The diameter of 

 a first-class tree varies with the method of growing and trim- 

 ming it. In the New York nurseries, a first-class two-year- 



Fio. 203. 



tree-caliper. 



FIG. 204. Heikes' tree gage. 



old apple tree (budded) should caliper eleven-sixteenths inch 

 and upward. Plums run about the same. Pears run 



