70 TRANSPLANtiNG. 



Watering. — A very common error is the belief that trees 

 need frequent watering before they are in leaf. Deluging the 

 roots while in a partially dormant state is as hurtful to trees 

 as to greenhouse plants, and a continued repetition of it is 

 almost certain death. When a plant is in a state of rapid vege- 

 tation, large quantities of moisture are drawn up by the leaves 

 and thrown off ; but while the buds are unexpanded, the amount 

 consumed is very small. Fruit-trees sometimes remain with 

 fresh and green branches, but with unswollen buds, till mid- 

 summer. Instead of watering such at the roots, let the tops 

 be wet daily at evening, and it will in nearly all cases bring 

 them into active growth. When the tree is much shrivelled, 

 wrapping it loosely in straw, or better in moss, and keeping 

 the whole in a damp state, will in most cases restore it. 



After the leaves are expanded, a more copious application 

 of water becomes useful ; but it should never be performed, 

 as so frequently done, by flooding the tree at one time and 

 allowing it to dry at another; or by pouring the water on 

 the surface, which it hardens, and never reaches the roots. 

 Keeping the soil finely pulverized, and, if necessary, with 

 an additional shading of hay or straw thickly spread over 

 the surface, will preserve a sufficient and uniform degree of 

 moisture. 



Watering the roots, even of fast-growing trees, will rarely 

 become needful if the soil is deep and is kept mellow. But 

 whenever it is performed, the surface earth should be thrown 

 off, the water poured in, and the earth replaced. This will 

 admit the water at once to the roots, and leave the surface 

 mellow ; while by watering the top of the ground, the water 

 will perhaps fail to reach the dry soil below, but only serve to 

 harden and bake the surface. 



Mulching, or covering the ground about a tree with straw, 

 coarse barnyard litter, or, what is still better, leaves from the 

 woods, will in nearly all cases obviate the necessity of water- 

 ing. It is an excellent protection against midsummer drouths, 

 which so often prove detructive to newly transplanted trees 

 after they have appeared in leaf, and is a good substitute for 

 mellow culture in places where good cultivation cannot be 

 given. It should never be omitted for newly set cherry-trees. 

 A correspondent of the Horticulturist mulched fifty trees out 



