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MOUNT ARBOR NURSERIES, SHENANDOAH, IOWA 
GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR TRANSPLANTING AND 
MANAGING FRUIT TREES 
1. PREPARING THE GROUND — Before planting fruit trees the soil (except new ground), 
should be made mellow by repeated plowing, and where the soil is densely packed, a subsoil plow 
should be used and the ground stirred up from twelve to fifteen inches deep. If this is neglected 
the roots are soon surrounded by an almost impenetrable wall and cannot be expected to live 
many years. Whenever this system has been practiced, healthy and vigorous trees and fine fruit 
have been the result. 
Offices of the Mount Arbor Nurseries 
2. RECEIVING AND CARING FOR TREES— Trees are frequently ruined through the lack 
of care or bad management after they fall into the hands of the purchaser. When trees are re- 
ceived the roots should be covered with a blanket, sack or straw until they reach their destina- 
tion. The bundle should then be opened and the trees separated from the moss in which they are 
packed. If the roots have beco.me dry from long exposure, straw should be spread upon the 
ground, the trees laid upon it, then covered entirely (roots and tops) with straw and the whole 
well watered. If holes are not yet dug or the ground too wet to plant when the trees are received, 
dig a trench and lay the trees in a slanting position, so thai you can cover up the root.s and two- 
thirds of the body or stalk. In this po.sition let them remain until the holes are dug or the ground 
is in a suitable condition to receive them. 
3. DIGGING THE HOLES — If the soil Cor an orchard has been properly prepared by sub- 
soiling and deep plowing, then the opening of the holes becomes a very simple matter, and really 
this is by far the easiest, cheapest and best plan; tor if the soil is thoroughly pulverized to a 
depth of from twelve to fourteen inches, all that is necessary is to measure off the distance at 
which the trees shall stand from one to another and the order of planting. Where only a few trees 
are to be planted and the soil has not been subsoiled, or where the trees are to be planted in sod, 
then the holes ought to be at least four feet wide and eighteen to twenty inches deep, the sub- 
soil thrown back and the hole filled up to the proper depth with fine top soil to receive the trees. 
