18 



cultivation or mulching, together with irrigation when 

 needed, and a sprinkle of Nitrate of Soda, the plants will 

 have attained the size of a lead pencil in about 5 months 

 from planting, and should then be budded. The buds 

 should be tied to stakes in order to grow straight and 

 when 2 ft. high the top should be nipped off to make 

 the trees branch. In about 18 months from the time the 

 seeds were planted these trees will be as large as the 

 average nursery tree sold commercially today. At the 

 time the nursery is planted the land should be prepared 

 for the grove. It should be cleared, plowed and planted 

 to legumes. The windbreaks should be planted and ants 

 nests destroyed. Quickly maturing legumes such as cow- 

 peas may be plowed under in 6 months and another 

 crop planted, but the last crop should be plowed under 

 about 4 months before the trees are to be set out. Then 

 the land should be staked off, placing a stake wliere each 

 tree is to be planted, and 3 to 4 rows of pidgeon peas 

 or other similar plants should be planted between each 

 tree row. The holes for the trees should be dug at least 

 4 ft. broad and 2 ft. deep and should again be filled up 

 with vegetable matter and top soil. When the nursery 

 trees are large enough they may 'be transplanted without 

 being materially checked in growth. This is accomplished 

 by digging a trench on each side of a row not closer 

 than 12 inc'hes to the trunks of the trees. Then by start- 

 ing at one end of the row the trees can be removed one 

 by one by digging horizontally at a depth of 12 to 15 

 inches, leaving a ball of earth around each tree two 

 feet square and 12 to 15 inches deep. If the soil is clayey 

 it will adhere when moist, and the tree can be transported 

 to the grove if the ball is wrapped in burlap. The tree 



