36 THE CULTIVATED EVERGREENS 



purposes. A nurseryman may plant all the year. Evergreens 

 can be taken up with a ball of earth even in May and June. 

 The new growth may curve down. After June 20, the spruces, 

 and after July 10, the pines, are firm enough not to wilt. 

 August-September sales with a ball of earth are just as success- 

 ful as April. The ground is warm and the roots grow rapidly; 

 the ground can be made moist. Weather in September is less 

 dry than in May and June. 



"Small evergreens up to two feet high may be planted in 

 August and September from one part of the nursery to another 

 without balls of earth, if the roots are very carefully dissected 

 out without breaking. There will be more failures if the week 

 following planting is hot and dry. 



"Planting with balls of earth may continue all winter, espe- 

 cially if the ground is mulched to keep out the frost and permit 

 economical digging of the tree and the hole. The frozen ball 

 of earth is an old method, frequently referred to, but is not an 

 aid. If the ball is frozen solid and remains so for one or two 

 months with dry winds, the top may dry out and die as has 

 occurred with red-cedar. If the ball is not frozen, sap can come 

 up to take the place of that lost by transpiration. 



"A ball of earth three feet in diameter is needed for an ever- 

 green eight to ten feet high; four and one-half feet in diameter 

 for an evergreen fifteen feet high, except red-cedar which can 

 have a ball three feet; a ball of earth twelve feet in diameter is 

 needed for a pine thirty-five feet high. Root-pruning pines, 

 spruce and hemlock permits moving the following year with a 

 smaller ball than otherwise. In root-pruning, the trench can 

 go three-quarters of the way around or three or four of the 

 larger roots can be left across the trench to keep the tree from 

 blowing over. Root-pruning of red-cedars is of less advantage 

 and is rarely practised. In New England and northern New 



