80 



THE WESTERN POMOLOGIST. 



1871 



ments, as will be readily comprehended by a glance 

 at the cut. 



The line must be held firm and the stakes upright, 

 while the arcs are described. Other methods have 

 been given to the public, through the press, but we 

 have found none so simple and so easily executed as 

 our own plan, as here given. 



If a surveyor's compass is used, the angle b, a, p, 

 and A, B. V, is 60°; and the form is made by laying 

 off a succession of equilateral triangles from the 

 base A, B, and so on, placing the stakes in the points 

 or corners of the triangles. 



If the trees were to be set twenty-five feet apart, 

 the rows a, b, and p, a, would be twen-one feet and 

 nine inches apart, instead of twenty-five feet, as in 

 the square form. Each tree would occupy five 

 hundred and forty-four feet. In the square form, 

 six hundred and twenty-five feet of surface. Or 

 eighty trees should be planted to the acre, against 

 sixty-nine to the acre if planted in the square form, 

 and each tree stand just twenty-five feet from each 

 other of its neighbors in both cases. 



"When ready to dig the holes, the stakes must be 

 removed. But afterwards they must either be re- 

 set or their exact position indicated by some device, 

 by which to set the trees. It is a good deal of trou- 

 ble to re-set the stakes, or to sight the trees to get 

 them in line. To avoid this use the Tree Planter. 



To make this planter take a straight-edged board, 

 six to eight feet long, six inches wide, and a half 

 inch thick ; cut a notch at the center of one edge, 

 and at each end, equi-distant from the center notch, 

 make a similar notch on the same edge. Lay the 

 board on the ground, and place the center notch 

 against the stake where the tree is to stand, and 

 stick down a small stake in each of the end notches. 

 The center stake and board may then be removed, 

 and the hole dug. When ready to set the trees, the 

 board is placed over the hole, with the end notches 

 against the two stakes. The center notch will indi- 

 cate the precise point where the tree should stand, 

 and at the same time help to steady the tree while 

 filling in the soil about the roots. This simple and 

 useful contrivance is an invention of our own, many 

 years ago, and enables the workman to plant each 

 tree of a uniform depth, and in the precise position 

 indicated by the stake. 



The following table shows the number of trees or 



plants that may be grown upon an acre of ground 

 from 1 to 24 feet apart : 



The ground having been made ready for the trees 

 as specified, the next step is to prepare the hole* for 

 their reception. They should be dug of sufficient 

 depth and breadth to receive all the roots of the 

 tree, without crowding or bending them un-natural- 

 ly, and the bottom soil made mellow some inches 

 deep. The hole being ready, take the tree, and 

 with a sharp knife prune the ends of all the roots, 

 from the under side, with a sloping, upward, clean, 

 smooth cut. Planted in this condition, the ends of 

 of the roots will speedily callous, and push out 

 therefrom a new system of roots, much sooner than 

 if left roughly cut by the spade. 



The tree should be placed in the hole, upon the 

 mellow soil, so as to stand four to six inches deeper 

 than-in the nursery. It should be held by one per- 

 son, while another arranges the roots in their natu- 

 ral position, and with the hand work in mellow soil 

 among them. As the filling up progresses, give the 

 tree a slight movement up and down, to more thor- 

 oughly work the soil in among the roots. Great 

 care should be taken to keep all the roots in a natu- 

 ral position when packing the soil around them. — 

 After the hole is full, and the soil pressed down and 

 leveled up, the work should be finished by adding a 

 thick coat of mulching. 



If the ground be dry at planting time, a liberal 

 use of water is all important. Thoroughly saturate 

 the soil about the roots as it is packed in. In fact, 

 we advise the free use of water in setting trees and 

 vines at all times — without regard to condition 

 of soil — wet or dry. The roots are more thorough- 

 ly imbedded in the soil. No work about tree plant- 

 ing pays better. 



* » * 



CuLTrvATiNG THE PoPPY. — The South is begin- 

 ning to talk about cultivating the poppy and going 

 largely into the opium trade. Kot long since a 

 Louisiana fanner tried the experiment, raising pop- 

 pies enough on seven acres of ground to yield him 

 140 pounds of marketable opium. This he sold at 

 an average of ten dollars per pound. The example 

 has set the Southern farmers to thinking, and they 

 are urging that this is better than raising either 

 cotton or sugar. 



