8 
MOUNT ARBOR NURSERIES, SHENANDOAH, IOWA 
inches of the top; cut off the bruised and brolien roots; straighten the roots to their natural 
position and cover them with fine mellow soil about two inches, packing it carefully with the 
hand: then sprinkle on sufficient water to moisten the roots, fill up the hole and press the dirt 
very firm as you fill in. A stake should be placed with each vine at the time of setting, six to 
seven feet high. The first year train one shoot only up to the stake; pinch off all the others and 
also all the lateral or side shoots that appear during the first season; cut the vine down to within 
three or four buds of the ground. The following season train up two shoots in the same manner. 
It is advisable to remove most varieties from trellis and cover with dirt during the winter. 
21. STRAWBERRIES — The ground should be prepared the same as for the other crops; if not 
already rich, make it so by manuring. Mark out the rows the desired width and set plants twelve 
to seventeen inches in rows; if set twelve inches in rows four feet apart, an acre will require 
10,890 plants — same as if sixteen inches in rows three feet apart. Keep in rows and cultivate. A 
new bed should be planted every two or three years. In the early winter, when the ground is 
frozen, cover the whole with long straw, which should be partially removed from the row in the 
spring, but enough allowed to remain on the ground as mulch to keep the berries clean the fol- 
lowing summer. When the plants are moved in the fall, they should be left until September. If 
taken up too early the plants are not as likely to live, as the roots are soft and spongy and will 
not bear exposure so well as after they have become matured and ripened. 
22. WINTERING TREES WHEN PROCURED IN THE FALL— Procuring trees in the autumn 
for early spring planting is recommended, when the purchaser is not prepared to plant in the fall 
or prefers spring setting, or where the winters are too severe to set out young trees and plants 
in the fall. The greatest advantages derived in doing so are that when the roots have been cut or 
pruned it will be found upon taking them up in the spring, that a callous has been formed, ready 
for the producing of new rootlets, and the trees being planted without much exposure as soon as 
the frost is out of the ground, will become thoroughly established the first season, and should 
make twice the growth of late planted trees, and the labor of planting is done before the rush of 
spring work sets in. To insure success select a dry spot of ground where water will not stand 
during winter and no grass or litter that will invite mice. Dig a trench from three to four feet 
wide, according to the amount of trees to be heeled in, and deep enough to admit one layer of 
roots and sloping enough to let the trees lie at angle of about 30 degrees, throwing the earth on 
the back part of the trenches so as to make a more perfect slope on which to lay down the trees. 
Put in one layer of trees, placing the roots as close together as can conveniently be done; cover 
them with well pulverized, moist soil, well upon the bodies, and see that it is carefully worked 
in about the roots as if they were being planted; then add another layer of trees, overlapping 
the first, and continue as at first until all are heeled in, throw in the ground well up around the 
branches with about six Inches of dirt on the tops, covering the trees entirely up with the earth. 
The roots should be pruned before laying them down in the fall. 
Peach trees and Apricot trees should be mounded up every winter and allowed to remain a 
little later in the spring to insure full crops and protect them from late frosts. 
A TABLE SHOWING THE NUMBER OF TREES OR PLANTS TO THE ACRE 
Distance 
1 foot apart each way 
2 feet apart each way 
3 feet apart each way 
4 feet apart each way 
5 feet apart each way 
6 feet apart each way 
7 feet apart each way 
8 feet apart each way 
9 feet apart each way 
10 feet apart each way 
11 feet apart each way 
12 feet apart each way 
No. of trees 
43,560 
10,890 
4,840 
2,702 
1,742 
1,210 
888 
680 
537 
434 
360 
302 
Distance 
13 feet apart each way 
14 feet apart each way 
15 feet apart each way 
16 feet apart each way 
17 feet apart each way 
18 feet apart each way 
19 feet apart each way 
20 feet apart each way 
25 feet apart each way 
30 feet apart each way 
35 feet apart each way 
40 feet apart each way 
No. of trees 
257 
222 
193 
170 
150 
134 
120 
108 
69 
48 
35 
28 
RULE — Multiply the distance in feet between the rows by the distance the plants are apart In 
the rows, and the product will be the number of square feet for each plant or hill, which, divided 
into the number of feet in an acre (43,560), will give the number of plants or trees to the acre. 
SUITABLE DISTANCES FOR PLANTING 
Apples, Standard 30 to 40 feet 
Apples, Dwarf 8 to 10 feet 
Pears, Standard 18 to 20 feet 
Pears, Dwarf 10 feet 
Peaches 16 to 18 feet 
Nectarines and Apricots 16 to 18 feet 
Cherrle.s, Sweet 18 to 20 feet 
Cherries, Sour 15 to 18 feet 
Plums 16 to 20 feet 
Quinces 10 to 12 feet 
Grapes 8 to 10 feet 
Currants 3 to 4 feet 
Gooseberries 3 to 4 feet 
Raspberries, Red 3 to 4 feet 
Raspberries, Black 4 to 5 feet 
Blackberries 5 to 7 feet 
Strawberries, rows 1 by 3% feet 
Strawberries, In beds 1% by 1% feet 
Asparagus, In beds 1 by 1% feet 
Asparagus, in field 1 by 3 feet 
