THE ART OF MAKING THINGS GROW 



109 



perfectly at home in school gardens. One or two plants of 

 each kind are enough to practice upon if lack of room pre- 

 vents having more. Every one of these shrubs, however, 

 rebels against shiftlessness and will not put up with neglect. 

 Space must also be saved for a few fruit trees. Nobody can 

 be blind to the ad- 

 vance that is being 

 made every year in 

 the abundance and 

 perfection of Amer- 

 ican fruit. Much of 

 our best fruit is sent 

 across the water, and 

 our fruit farms are 

 the admiration of vis- 

 itors from abroad. A 

 miniature orchard will 

 give young people a 

 chance to learn some 

 of the secrets of prac- 

 tical, up-to-date fruit 

 culture. 



The nurseryman 

 sets out his trees and 

 shrubs early in April. 

 Accordingly, by that 

 time the trenches 

 must be ready and waiting. A little tree requires a trench at 

 least three feet wide and two feet deep. The gardener be- 

 gins by filling the bottom of the trench with earth ; this he 

 fairly saturates with water. Next he brings out one by one 

 the treelings, whose roots during transportation have been 

 kept so carefully wrapped in damp matting or straw. They 



A FUTURE ORCHARDIST 



