WHAT IS A FIRST-CLASS TREE ? 



143 



A first-class tree is well grown ; that is, the various 

 operations to which it has been subjected by the nurseryman 

 have been properly performed. It must be mature ; that is, 

 not stripped of its leaves before the foliage has thoroughly 

 ripened. It must be of the proper age for planting. It 

 must have a clean, smooth bark.. It must have a stocky, 

 strong trunk, good roots, and be free of borers and other 

 insect injuries. The union — at the bud or graft— must be 

 completely healed over. Stocky and 

 rather short trees, with well-branched 

 heads, are always preferable to very tall 

 ones. Very slender trees, if above one 

 or two years old, should be avoided. 

 Nurserymen express the size of a tree by 

 its diameter about three inches above the 

 bud. The measuring is usually done by 

 a caliper. The diameter of a first-class 

 tree varies with the method of growing 

 and trimming it. In the New York nur- 

 series, a firstrclass two-year-old apple tree 

 (budded) should caliper five- 

 eighths to three-fourths of an inch. 

 Plums run about the same. Pears 

 will generally run a sixteenth of 

 an inch less, and sour cherries 

 about a sixteenth more. Sweet 

 cherries will run three-fourths inch 

 and above. Nurserymen use various instruments for gaug- 

 ing the diameter of stock. The old-fashioned caliper is 

 most commonly employed. An excellent modification of 

 this device is the self-registering caliper, seen in Fig. 141. 

 Heikes' tree-gauge, made of sheet steel, is shown in 

 Fig. 142. 



The Storing of Trees. — Of late years, the nursery busi- 

 ness has been greatly benefited by the free use of cellars for 

 the storing of stock. In these cellars the stock is safe from 

 winter injury, and it can be moved to customers before the 



T4r Self-regUtering iree- 

 caliper. 



