AN ENGLISH FRUIT-FAEM IN THE MAKING. 495 



is rendered very simple by the use' of a " planting-board." With this 

 contrivance no sighting into line of the plants is required; every plant 

 will take the place automatically of the peg which marked the position 

 intended for it; and not only is perfect alignment assured, but also the 

 proper level at which the tree should be planted is guaranteed by the 

 use of this simple but invaluable contrivance. 



The actual process of planting a tree or bush presents no difficulty 

 if a few salient principles are kept in mind. The depth and width of the 

 hole is regulated by the size of the plant and the spread of its root- 

 portions. In land that has been thoroughly prepared, the hole need be 

 no larger than is necessary to comfortably receive the root-system of the 

 plant, allowing the roots the same relative positions they held before 

 the plant was lifted, and the stem to be covered to the exact point 

 at which it was exposed in the nursery. 



Plant rather above the general level of the surrounding soil ;^ never 

 below it. It is easier to pull soil around a plant that may be set a 

 trifle too high than to correct the saucer-like depressions and their 

 malignant influences upon the plant which are due to low planting. 

 In soils retentive of moisture, plant high. 



Before any plant is put in place the root-system must be examined 

 and all damaged roots carefully cut back to the points at which they 

 are sound, with a clean cut on the under-side. Plant carefully. With 

 a little practice and the aid of a planting-board it is possible to plant 

 very well and yet very quickly. The root-systems should be exposed 

 as little as possible to the action of weather— cold, drying winds, or 

 hot suns. Move plants as speedily as possible from the protection of the 

 trenches to the protection of the soil in which they are to live perma- 

 nently. Some method is called for in the organizing of planting work, 

 and in ratio to good method in the control of it will the work proceed 

 with smoothness and efficiency. 



One cannot treat the question of orchard-planting to-day without 

 taking into account the comparatively new factor which arises from 

 increased knowledge in the matter of cross-pollination in fruit-bearing 

 trees, and its effect upon crop-returns. Once this matter had but an 

 academic interest, now it is of great commercial importance. Scientific 

 research, supported by practical experience, has revealed that many 

 varieties of fruit-bearing trees are practically self-sterile, and so worth- 

 less from the " constant income " point of view, if dependent only 

 on their own pollen for impregnation, and others only partially self- 

 fertile; and it is more than suspected that in all cases crop-bearing is 

 improved both in quantity and quality when cross-pollination between 

 varieties takes place. It becomes, then, a matter of high moment to 

 the fruit-farmer that he affords every facility for the process of cross- 

 pollination; and the aforetime method of planting large areas of each 

 variety separately — so convenient for crop-handling purposes — must 

 give place to the new method of intermingling varieties whose blossom- 

 ing periods are contemporary, so that no tree is at any great distance 

 from another of a different variety, thus affording every chance for 



