Practical Orcharding On Rough Lands. 1 23 



After deciding upon the depth the tree is to 

 stand when planted, begin setting it several 

 inches deeper than you wish it to remain. Then 

 while one man throws in the dirt the other who 

 is holding the tree in position and firming the 

 soil, after a few shovelfuls of earth are in place, 

 should lift the tree an inch or so, at the same 

 time giving it a gentle shake. After filling in 

 more dirt, give it another lift and shake, and 

 so on until the tree stands at the desired depth. 

 In this way the fine dirt will be sifted in among 

 the roots and all the air spaces will be filled 

 quite as well as if the dirt had been worked in 

 with the fingers. When this finger work is left 

 for the average planter to do, it is seldom done; 

 he simply fills up the hole, firms down the dirt 

 and calls it done, frequently leaving the ends of 

 Ae roots turned 'up, caused by the' ramping of 

 the dirt down near the body; while in the plan 

 suggested,-the lifting of the tree several times 

 — not only insures the complete filling of the 

 spaces among the roots, but assures the planter 

 that the root ends are all pointing downward, 

 which places them in the best possible position 

 to brace the tree. 



Puddle Before Setting. — ^The practice of 



dipping the roots of trees in a mixture of water 

 and clay — ^called puddling — before setting, is 



