A. B. Hood O Co.’s Descriptive Catalogue 
o 
to give satisfaction. A few good varieties, ripening in succession tlironghout the 
season, are far preferalile for all purposes. What the planter particularly needs is a 
sufficient number of those varieties which have been tried and proved themselves 
worthy of cultix ation. 
It is our determination to propagate and recommend only such as we confidently 
believe to be of superior quality. 
A few words as to c|uality of stock may not be inappropriate. Some are induced 
by low prices to ])lant second- or third-class trees, saying “your first-class stock 
costs more.” Now, this is as it should be. It costs more simply because it is worth 
more,— worth more to the nurseryman, and worth tenfold more to the planter. 
It is useless, yes absurd, to expect a nice, thrifty, productive tree from a poor, 
weakly, stunted scion. .Men deal not so in the animal kingdom ; the best of the flock 
is always the choice of the well-informed breeder. 
Let us insist upon it that you plant nothing but strictly first-class trees, which 
will always cost first-class prices. 
THE SOIL 
A rich loam is the best for fruit, made sufficiently dry by artificial draining, if 
necessary ; but all soils can be made available by judicious treatment. 
PREPARATION FOR PLANTING 
Plow and subsoil repeatedly, so as to thoroughly pulverize to a depth of 12 to 
15 inches. When planting upon the lawn or grass plots, remove the sod for a diam- 
eter of 4 or 5 feet and keep this space well worked and free from weetls. Dig the 
hole deeper and larger than is necessary, to admit all the roots in their natural posi- 
tion, keeping the surface and subsoil separate. Cut off broken and bruised roots and 
shorten the tops to half a dozen good buds, except for fall phiTiting, when it is better 
to defer top-pruning until the following spring, which should be done before the buds 
begin to push. If not prepared to plant when your stock arrives, “heel in,” by 
digging a trench deep enough to admit all the roots, and setting the trees therein as 
thick as they can stand, carefully packing the earth about the roots, taking up when 
retjuired. Never leave the roots exposed to the sun and air. 
PREPARING THE ROOTS 
Immediately before planting, all the bruised or wouiuled parts, where cut with 
the spade, should be pared off smoothly, to prevent decay and to enable them to heal 
over by granulations during the growth of the tree. 'I'hen dip them in a bed of mud, 
w hich will coat over every part evenly, and leave no portion in contact with the air 
which accidentally might not be reached by the earth in filling the hole. The use of 
water in settling the earth amongst the roots will be found eminently serviceable. Let 
there be a few quarts poured in while the hole is filling up. If the trees have been 
out of the ground for a long time, and become dry and shrix eled, they should be 
immersed in water twentj -four hours before planting. Fruit trees sometimes remain 
wdth fresh and green branches, but with unswollen buds, till midsummer ; instead of 
watering such at the roots, let the body and branches be wet every evening regularly, 
about sundown, with a watering-pot, and it will in nearly all cases bring them into 
active growth. 
SHORTENING-IN THE BRANCHES 
However carefully trees may be taken up, they will lose a portion of their roots, 
and if the whole top is allowed to remain the demand will be so great upon the roots 
that in many cases it will prove fatal to the tree. To obviate this, then, it becomes 
necessary to shorten-in the branches, which should be done at the time of planting, 
and in a manner to correspond with the loss of roots. If the tree has lost the greater 
