SETTING THE TREES. —DISTA NCES. 18 
CHAPTER II. 
SETTING THE TREES.—DISTANCES. 
Care in setting the trees, as in all other operations in 
the orchard, is imperative. The shiftless orchardist can- 
not succeed. Thorough-going methods alone bring profit. 
‘Trees should make a good growth the first season. If * 
they are weak during the first summer they will likely 
become the prey of borers, or they will dwindle for a 
few years and die. The first requisite in setting is to 
trim smoothly all broken roots. It is customary to cut 
off the ends of the roots in a sloping manner from the 
inside outwards, so that the wound will rest firmly upon 
the soil. It is not necessary that a tree possess many 
fine roots when transplanted. Such roots are very liable 
to be broken in transportation, and when exposed they 
soon dry up beyond recovery. If a tree has a quan- 
tity of clean,. bright roots the size of a lead pencil or 
larger, it ought to grow luxuriantly if other conditions 
are satisfactory. I am not sure but such trees do better 
than those with an abundance of fine roots, from the fact 
that the earth can be packed more snugly about the roots. 
I am not convinced that trees from a local nursery are 
preferable to those from a distance, unless one desires to 
remove a few trees with a ball of earth attached. With 
our rapid transportation trees can be sent a great dis- 
tance without injury. To be sure, in the case of tender 
plants, such as peach trees, I should prefer trees grown 
in my own latitude. Some years ago, before railroads 
