102 ELEMENTARY FORESTRY. 



. soraetimefe b& moved successfully in August or 

 even in the autumn if they are to be carried only a short dis- 

 tance and the conditions of the weather and land are favor- 

 able, but this is not a time for general planting and it is 

 seldom advisable to do it at this season. 



The very general error is current that June is the best 

 time to plant out evergreens. They may be transplanted at 

 this season successfully if the conditions are just right in 

 every particular, but they are much more liable to failure than 

 when the work is done earlier in the season. At whatever time 

 of the year evergreens are to be moved the work should be 

 done in such a manner as to protect the roots from having 

 even the appearance of being dry, for if dried ever so little 

 the probabilities of their living are much lessened. The kind 

 of treatment that would be considered all right for apple trees 

 might be fatal to evergreens as they are much more suscep- 

 tible to injury from drying. 



In addition to the above precautions to be taken when 

 moving evergreens, it is desirable to shorten back the limbs 

 about one-third to compensate for the loss of roots. Of 

 course this shortening should not be done in such a way as to 

 disfigure the tree, but when the roots are in any way severely 

 mutilated, the whole top makes more of a draft on them for 

 moisture than the root can supply. This pruning is not so 

 necessary in the case of young seedling evergreens or nursery 

 grown trees that have been recently transplanted for when they 

 are moved their root systems are not seriously injured. 



Very small evergreens and other small plants are often 

 set in trenches made with a spade, as shown in figure 19. For 

 this method the soil must be loose and yet sufficiently compact 

 so that it can be cut with a spade and not crumble before the 

 plants can be set out. The beds are made about six feet wide 

 and a board of this length and six inches wide should be 

 used. The soil is thrown out with a spade (A } to the depth of 

 about six inches, but no wider than necessary to just take in 

 the roots. The plants are then placed in position by hand 

 and a little soil pushed against them to hold them in place. 

 (B) The trench is then half filled and the soil firmly com- 

 pacted by the feet. The remainder of the soil is then put in 



