106 Time to Plant Trees. 
if the irouble has not gone too far, the bark will recover its 
smoothness and plumpness. It should be very seldom, how- 
ever, that a lot of trees is allowed to get into such condition by 
neglect. In heeling in it will be found a great convenience and 
a safeguard against possible confusion by loss of labels, if each 
variety as taken from the packing is placed by itself in the 
trench. Nurserymen generally attach a label to each small bun- 
dle, if the trees are of several varieties, and the novice is apt to 
lose all track of his sorts when heeling in the trench, unless he 
heels in each kind by itself, leaving the nurseryman's label to 
mark the whole lot of each kind. 
If the planter has his own ideas of after-treatment of his 
trees, or if he is a beginner and desires to adopt the suggestions 
which will be laid down in this book, he should insist that the 
nurseryman shall not trim up nor cut back the trees before 
packing. Have the trees packed just as they are lifted from the 
ground. The work toward the shaping of the tree should be 
done after it is planted in the orchard. 
PLANTING THE ORCHARD: 
The best time for planting out deciduous fruit trees in most 
parts of California is immediately after the first winter rain 
which is sufficiently heavy to moisten the soil to a considerable 
depth. The young tree should be dormant before being moved, 
and if its leaves have fallen it is good evidence of its dormancy. 
Such, however, is the effect of the climate of California, more 
apparent in some years than others, and with some kinds of 
fruit than others, that the young tree retains a small part of its 
activity very late, and in such cases it is not practicable to wait 
for the complete falling of the leaves. Sometimes for conve- 
nience of work, the trees have to he lifted before this takes place, 
and in such case it is desirable to remove the leaves to lessen 
evaporation. It is probably better to transplant in this condi- 
tion for the sake of early setting in its new position than to wait 
for all the leaves to drop. This statement is not intended to in- 
clude nursery stock which is kept growing late in the season by 
late irrigation. Such trees are not desirable. 
Time to Plant—Early planting of common orchard fruits is 
of advantage for several reasons. First, an early-planted tree 
gets the full benefit of the season’s rainfall, whatever it may be, 
and a late-planted tree, in a year with short rainfall, is apt to 
suffer during its first season’s growth, unless it can be irrigated. 
The two main things to observe are the dormancy of the tree 
and the proper condition of the soil, and both of these are most 
apt to coincide in most parts of California about the first of 
