28 SOUTHERN ORCHARD PLANTINGS 
After the fruit is stored, keep the door closed during the day and open at 
night. Do this until November. After that just air out occasionally and 
the temperature will vary but slightly. During winter you will then find it 
an easy matter to keep the temperature of the storage or fruit cellar very close 
to the following figures which are recognized as correct: Apples, 39 degrees; 
cherries. 40 degrees; grapes, 36 degrees; nuts. 35 degrees; oranges, 36 degrees; 
pears, peaches, plums, prunes, and quinces, 35 degrees. All vegetables should 
be kept at about 35 degrees. Thus you will sec that you can store almost all 
kinds of fruit at the same time in the same cellar. 
What to Do When Your Trees Come 
Many people have an idea that a tree will live and grow with any kind of 
treatment. When the trees arrive, if the land is not ready, or the planter is 
busy with other work, the trees are taken out of the box, examined, and then 
left to lie around for a few days. When a convenient time comes, the planter 
sets out the trees and expects them to start growth at once. Weeks pass with- 
out sign of life, and he wonders what can be the matter. He waits a while 
longer; still the trees show no inclination to grow-. He then gets "hot under the 
collar," and blames the nurseryman for sending him dead trees. Perhaps he 
writes the man from whom he bought them telling him just how high he stands 
in the buyer's estimation. 
Now that tree-buyer never stopped to consider his trees as living things. 
Either he did not know, or failed to remember, that tree roots should not 
be exix>sed to the air for any length of time. This neglect on the part of the 
planter was the sole cause of the loss. If he had taken just a few minutes to 
"heel them in," there would have been no cause for dissatisfaction. 
You do not have to plant your trees just as soon as they get to you, but 
they must be given a chance to live. After they come, open the box or pack- 
age and check them up to be sure none are missing. Now take the trees out 
and dig a trench about a foot deep (sec illustration on this page). It shows how 
it should be done. 
Lay the roots in 
this trench and cover 
with earth. Now 
the trees arc safe 
until you get time 
to plant them, but 
it should be attended 
to soon. If your 
trees are frozen when 
they arrive, do not 
let that frighten you. 
Leave them in the 
box and either put 
the box in a cellar 
or bury it. Freezing 
d<x!s not greatly in- 
jure the trees; it is 
the alternate freezing 
and thawing that 
does the damage. 
If your order is 
short, sit right down 
and write the nur- 
jjcryman. Do not 
When your trees come, ''heel them in" like this put it off. 
