AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 407 



entire day in the shade. Transplanted trees should never be 

 watered after they are set out, if set properly. 



We all know that trees require a great deal of moisture, and 

 that it is absorbed through the instrumentality of the spongioles 

 and rootlets which pierce the soil in every direction. As holes 

 reiain moisture nearly in proportion to their depth and size, 

 therefore they should be large and widest at the bottom. The 

 ground must be thoroughly pulverized, and just before the tree is 

 set fill the hole with water, then throw in a suflicient quantity 

 of the pulverised earth and mix it until formed into a perfect 

 mortar, spread the roots of the tree by hand in this mess and 

 cover them with the finest surface soil, without pressure, then tie 

 your tree firmly to one or more stakes and it will never require 

 water at your hands. When trees are watered, after planting, 

 the ground becomes hard and baked by the action of the sun's 

 rays and prevents the absorption of moisture, air, and heat. If 

 you ever find it necessary to water trees that have been planted 

 after the usual fashion, draw away the earth for a considerable 

 distance around the tree, to the depth of several inches, fill the 

 Ija'sin with water after sun-set, let it sta*nd until the next morn- 

 ing, and then fill in the soil to its former position without pres- 

 sure. The roots of trees extend, comparatively speaking, great 

 distances in the earth in search of water and other requisites. 

 I followed the root of a horse chestnut tree through a wooden 

 pipe that had been laid for the purpose of carrying water from a 

 pump'to my barn yard, a distance of ninety four feet; there was 

 not a single fibre projecting from it. Sanfoin has been known to 

 penetrate the earth fifteen feet, and rye seventy-two feet. There 

 are a great many mysteries connected witli the phenomena of vege- 

 table life still to be revealed t ■ us. 



Before you collect seed for planting you must be sure that they 

 are mature, and when sown must be placed beyond the action of 

 light, as they start more rapidly in the shade. Heat is a neces- 

 sary condition, as no seed has been known to germinate at the 

 freezing point ; they cannot grow without moisture and atmos- 

 pheric air, nor in carbonic acid, hydrogen or nitrogen gas, bat 

 readily in pure oxygen gas. When the leaf is perfectly formed 

 a new stage of existence is opened to the plant, the food in the 

 seed has fed it to this period, it must now depend upon the earth 

 and atmosphere for its future existence, and as it grows is subject 

 to numerous diseases. When the soil is barren and neglected by 

 man, it is attacked by consumption, the bark exfoliates, and thou- 

 sands of insects fasten upon and destroy it ; sometimes the pores 



