34 



THE ORANGE; 



PLANT KATSED WITH 

 PLUG OF EARTH. 



HOLE CUT BY TEAXS- 

 PLANTER. 



rounded by unmoved dirt. Tamp the 

 earth a little to settle it about the plug, 

 and the transplant- 

 ing is complete. 

 After a few experi- 

 ments the work can 

 be done with great 

 rapidity. 



Concerning the 

 planter Judge Wid- 

 ney says: "Three 

 years ago I com- 

 menced to set out 

 some 200 acres of 

 eucalj'ptus trees. I 

 raised the plants 

 and put them in 

 boxes 20x24, setting them two inches apart 

 — the usual plan. To set them out in the 

 field and not irri- 

 gate, and do the 

 work rapidly, was 

 the question. The 

 result was this trans 

 planter. With it 

 one man will take 

 the boxes of plants and set out 600 to 

 1000 trees per day, nine feet apart. I set 

 out over 100,000 plants, and not one plant 

 in 100 died from transplanting." 



Irrigation. — As soon as planted the 

 trees should be irrigated. This may be 

 'best accomplished by making a slight 

 trench along each side of the row and a 

 lew inches therefrom, throwing the dirt 

 away from the trees. Then lead the water 

 along, and after it has thoroughly soaked 

 •away use a hoe to draw the displaced 

 earth back. The dry soil being left on 

 top acts as a mulch to prevent evapora- 

 tion. Under no circumstances should the 

 soil remain unstirred after an irrigation, 

 as it will bake and dry out, leaving the 

 trees in a worse condition than if they 

 they had been given no water at all. If 

 the weather be warm and dry at the time 

 of planting your nursery, an irrigation 

 each week is not too much to begin with. 

 The soil should not be allowed to dry 

 within half an inch of the surface. Later, 

 as the trees become well rooted, an irriga- 

 tion each fortnight, and then one each 

 month, will suffice. The second season 

 the cultivation may be done by horse- 

 power. 



After Care. — Directly after planting 

 equip yourself with knife or scissors and 

 trim up the little trees. Some of them 

 will have two or three stems, and some 

 will be throwing an undue proportion of 

 their vitality into some favored limb. 

 Trim them to a single stem and start 

 them up in the Avay they should go. 

 Afterwards replace all trees that die, so as 

 to keep your rows full and regular. 

 When grown to the height of two or three 

 feet, your trees, or a part of them, may re- 

 quire staking. If so, don't neglect this 

 part of the work. You may think that 

 the stalk will be cut down after a while, 

 in budding, and it doesn't make much 

 difference whether it grows straight or 

 not. But it does. The more symmetrical 

 you keep your nursery, the more pride 

 you will take in it, the better you will do 

 your work, and it will thrive jpropor- 

 tionateiy. 



Free from Insects. — Watch your nur- 

 sery with eagle eye that none of the pes- 

 tiferous scale insects obtain lodgment 

 there. If once thoroughly inoculated 

 with red or white scale, it is all over with 

 your project; nobody would buy the trees 

 afterward, even though you succeeded in 

 clearing out the pests. It is a good plan 

 to wash the trees once or twice every year 

 with a decoction of whale oil soap, as a 

 measure of prevention. 



Free from Weeds. — I would enjoin 

 the most thorough cultivation of the nur- 

 sery, summer and winter, and keeping it 

 entirelj^ free from weeds. But the pains- 

 taking nurseryman will do this without 

 special admonition. 



Pruning. — When the trees have been in 

 nursery one year, they should be pruned 

 slightly. Be careful not to carry the 

 pruning to excess, and especially avoid 

 making long willowy switc'hes with a 

 mere tuft of leaves a-top. Rather follow 

 the plan of keeping the small tree sym- 

 metrical and well proportioned, exactly 

 as you would a large one. Dispense with 

 the lower branches gradually, and the 

 trunk will grow up stocky and strong 

 enough to support itself without staking. 

 When trees are budded at the end of the 

 first year in nursery, little pruning is re- 

 quired; simply enough on one side to 

 make room for the bud; and, after that 

 starts, the entire top is cut away. 



