ipll 



BETTER FRUIT 



Page 41 



CUT-LEAF JAPAN MAI'LI': 

 Specimen in grounds of North Pacific Sanatorium, Portland, Oregon 



are not great extremes of heat during the 

 summer months planting may be done as 

 late as June. Palms can be safely trans- 

 planted from September until June of the 

 following year, but to successfully grow 

 them during the winter months they 

 should never be dug fresh out of the 

 ground from December to February, as 

 they are dormant at that season of the 

 year and will invariably "go back." 



No matter how carefully a deciduous 

 tree is taken up there are always some 

 roots which will be bruised or broken, 

 and these should be cut off to smooth, 

 sound wood. All other roots should 

 have a fresh cut made on them and short- 

 ened in so they will fit into the holes 

 readily without doubling up. Before 

 planting the ground should be thor- 

 oughly powdered or spaded and the 

 holes should be dug sufficiently large to 

 accommodate the roots without cramp- 

 ing. Far better to dig the holes too 

 large and fill in with surface soil than to 

 err by having them too small. It is a 

 safe rule to set the trees a few inches 

 deeper than they stood in the rows at 

 the nursery. 



Evergreens and palms are always taken 

 up with a ball of earth and should be 

 handled with care so as not to break the 

 ball. In planting the rope used in tying 

 the sacking to the ball should be cut, but 

 the sack can remain or be allowed to 

 drop to the bottom of the hole. The 

 earth around deciduous trees should be 

 well tramped, and in the case of ever- 

 greens it should be well tamped with a 

 bar; avoid at all times tramping on the 

 ball itself, as this will cause the soil to 

 fall away, frustrating the very object of 

 making the ball to begin with. After 

 planting water freely, and the following 

 day draw loose soil around the tree, 

 filling up the basin left for watering. In 

 the case of deciduous trees of any size 



no water at all will be required if it rains 

 occasionally during the dormant period 

 and the ground around the tree is well 

 settled until the growing season sets in, 

 when not less than ten gallons should 

 be given to a tree at intervals of three 

 weeks apart. With evergreens proper 

 precautions should be taken to retain the 

 moisture in the ball of earth, and it will 

 be necessary to water more frequently. 

 This can be determined by digging down 

 and feeling the ball; if it is dry and hard 

 water should be given immediately and 

 be applied often enough to prevent a 

 repetition of this condition. 



Never place manure or fertilizer of any 

 kind in the hole, as the young and tender 

 roots will be killed and the plant other- 

 wise injured, sometimes fatally. 



The cause of many trees failing to 

 grow or start as early in the spring as 

 they should is directly traceable in many 

 instances to the planter failing to cut his 

 trees back. In taking up a tree from the 

 nursery, at the very best calculation, 

 three-quarters of its roots are sacrificed, 

 so that top-pruning is just as important, 

 or even more so, than root pruning to 

 insure the life of the trees to begin with 

 and promote a satisfactory growth dur- 

 ing the growing season. Not more than 

 five lateral branches should be allowed to 

 remain, the lowest should not be closer 

 than six feet from the ground and the 

 highest nine feet. These branches should 

 have two-thirds of their growth cut off 

 at the very outside. Trees which were 

 originally eighteen to twenty feet high, 

 or even higher, should be cut back to at 

 least ten feet from the ground when set, 

 and smaller trees to eight feet. 



Evergreens, and especially conifers, 

 should have their branches shortened in, 

 starting in at the base cutting away one- 

 third of the growth up to the top. When 

 completed the shape of the tree should 



resemble in appearance the outline of an 

 acute triangle. 



Other varieties should have branches 

 shortened and thinned out to secure good 

 form. This pruning is necessary to 

 reduce the amount of foliage, lessen 

 evaporation and to reduce the growth so 

 that the remaining roots can retain life 

 in the plant until such a time as it begins 

 to develop, when root and top will grow 

 in a corresponding ratio. 



Trees of all kinds require careful atten- 

 tion the first season after planting. The 

 soil should be kept normally moist, and 

 after each irrigation well worked with a 

 hoe or spade. In the hot interior val- 

 leys, where the heat is intense, partial 

 shading by building a skeleton frame and 

 covering with burlap will do much to 

 insure evergreens growing and becoming 

 established. 



Standard deciduous trees branching six 

 to eight feet from the ground should 

 have their bodies wrapped with burlap 

 or paper the first and second years to 

 prevent sunburn. 



In pruning trees and shrubs should be 

 allowed to assume a natural form as far 

 as possible. Nothing is more hideous 

 than to see trees pruned to assume 

 shapes and forms entirely foreign to 

 them. The individuality of trees is what 

 renders a pleasing feature to our land- 

 scapes and makes them appeal to every 

 lover of nature. In pruning the predomi- 

 nating idea should be to retain the nat- 

 ural shape of the tree. Cut off straggling 

 branches, thin out the head where it 

 becomes too dense and remove all dead 

 wood. This applies to deciduous trees. 

 In coniferous trees the branches should 

 be allowed to touch the ground, remov- 

 ing none, except in such instances where 

 there are two parallel leaders, when the 

 weaker one should be cut out. 



