22 



Setting the Tree. 



.Where soil conditions are just right, that is, land well pre- 

 pared and well drained, and where the nursery stock can be 

 bought near by so that it is certain to be on hand when wanted, 

 and yet will not have been dug while too immature, autumn 

 setting will succeed. But it is usually best, in our climate, to 

 set orchards in the spring, and the earlier in the spring they 

 can be set the better. 



The field operations of digging the holes and setting the 

 trees will vary greatly according to the number to be set, and 

 various other factors, but in general would be somewhat as 

 follows. The holes should be dug about 18 inches to 2 feet 

 wide and perhaps 15 inches deep. The top 8 or 10 inches of 

 soil should be put in one pile and the subsoil in another. 

 The tree is prepared for setting by cutting off all large roots 

 that are broken, and shortening in any long, straggling roots. 

 The actual setting can best be done by two men, one holding 

 the tree and the other shoveling in the soil. The tree is 

 slipped into the notch in the planting board mentioned above, 

 and is held at the proper height by the man setting it while 

 the other man shovels the soil into the bottom of the hole. 

 If the hole is considerably deeper than necessary for the 

 depth of the tree, some soil may be shoveled in before the 

 tree is put into the hole. The tree ought to be set at about the 

 same depth at which it grew in the nursery; an inch or two 

 deeper is probably all right, but it should not vary greatly 

 from its original depth. The soil should be packed in care- 

 fully under the crown of the tree and the roots brought out 

 into approximately their original position. When the soil has 

 been filled in so that all roots are covered, the man setting 

 the tree should tramp the soil down firmly about the roots so 

 that there will be a good contact between them, and the 

 tree can start ofl properly. The siu-face soil should be used 

 first, and subsoil filled in at the top of the hole. 



Where operations are being conducted on a fairly large- 

 scale, it is well to mount a barrel on a stone-boat, fill it 

 half full of water and then put the trees into this barrel to 

 be transported around the orchard. This insures their ar- 

 riving at the holes in first-class condition. 



