342 
THE RURAL HEW-YORKER. 
JUNE 2 
Iu planting mv trees on a stiff clay soil, 
varying from four to seven feet in depth, 1 
sank the hole by means ol' n post-hole anger 
through the clay to the quicksand, filling the 
hole with oyster-shells, thereby rendering the 
soil free from standing water in rainy seasons 
—and it is not. improbable that this system of 
drainage for farm purposes, on certain soils, 
would he most economical and feasible, ren¬ 
dering unsightly ojien ditches unnecessary and 
enabling the farmer to add their places to the 
area for cultivation. 
Returning to the first subject:—1 use muck 
that consists of decomposed vegetable matter 
or woods’ scrapings in tny compost; when con¬ 
venient South Carolina phosphate or ground 
oyster-shells should be added. The avoidance 
of blight to a great extent is due to the ab¬ 
sence of ammonia in fertilization. 
I applied the kainit compost one season to 
corn, with good results. To one portion of the 
piece 1 applied a fertilizer prepared under the 
direction of our State Chemist.; to another 
portion I applied a popular brand of bone 
phosphate, aud on the third portion I used the 
kainit compost. The first portion of the sea¬ 
son the fertilizer furnished by the State Chem¬ 
ist seemed to be producing better results than 
the others. Soon the bone phosphate ad¬ 
vanced to take its usual advanced position: a 
very severe drought, set. in. and the tardy 
kainit showed its value in sustaining growth 
after the others had ceased to show the ef¬ 
fects of stimulation; the kainit proved to be 
the equal of any of the others in corn produc¬ 
tion—though I have my doubts whether it 
would have resulted so, had it been a usual 
season. I regal'd it as a safe adjunct to other 
fertilizers any season, giving us more value 
for our money than any other fertilizer. 
Norfolk Co., Va. 6 . F. B. Leighton. 
^rboriculluual. 
FORESTRY No. 41. 
Forest Nursery. Part XIV. 
DR. JOHN A. WARDER. 
Root-Pruning with the Spade, with the Tree- 
Digger—Trimming — Transplanting — Pud¬ 
dling the. roots—Heeling-in—Nursery outfit 
of Implements and Apparatus—Seed Room 
— Frames, Sash — Soil — Compost, heaps — 
Cellars — Conclusion. 
Root-pruning should ho practiced hi the 
nursery whenever the trees take on a too ram¬ 
pant growth, as when the conifers show a dis¬ 
position to become too open in their upper 
branches; this condition is less likely to occur 
in the forest nursery, however, where most of 
the trees are removed to the plantation while 
smaller, and much sooner than they will be 
taken from the commercial establishment in 
which larger trees are wanted for ornamental 
planting iu parks and private grounds. For 
such purposes their root system will be much 
improved by this process. 
The work may bo done with a sharp spade 
thrust down to its full depth on either side of 
the rows, in such a maimer as to sever all the 
descending roots. For pruning the roots of 
whole rows, the tree-digger of suitable size 
drawn by a strong aud steady team, will be 
found much more economical and efficient. 
There are different, patterns of the tree-digger- 
That sold by J. Whitney, Franklin Grove, Il¬ 
linois, has been the best known and is exten¬ 
sively used in Western nurseries where it is 
claimed it does the work of 20 men with spades 
in taking up ti-ees. The smaller size is pre¬ 
ferred for root-pruning. Bragg & Co., of 
Kalamazoo,Miehigan, advertise the “Common 
Sense Digger,” and perhaps there are others. 
Root-pruning is usually practiced when the 
plants are dormant, or in European conifers, 
just before they start iu the Spring. 
Trimming will require attention, but it 
should be confined to the di reeling of the leading 
shoots chiefly, where we design to prepare 
trees for the plantation. This should begin 
early, and may be done at any time. Let it 
consist in shortening rather than in removing 
side branches that are contending for the 
mastery—especially in deciduous trees. Ever 
greens should never have their lateral branches 
removed, for when set out from the nursery 
into the open field they will ueed all their lat 
erals to shelter their stems from the sun. In 
some fastigiate forms, however, it is impor¬ 
tant in all planting that the nurseryman 
should subdue their tendency to multiply lead¬ 
ing branches, and this must be done from the 
first setting them out in the rows, so as to 
direct the growth into one stem, otherwise 
they are liable to lie spread by the snow. 
On the other hand, where the trees, espe¬ 
cially Pines, are becoming too tall and open, 
they may be cut back severely, or at least to 
near the base of the previous year’s growth, 
and their laterals may ulso be shortened with 
impunity and advantage. Don’t lie afraid of 
removing the loaders For further remarks 
upon the trimming of evergreens, the reader 
is referred to an essay road before the Ameri¬ 
can Nurserymen's Association at the Dayton 
meeting, and published in their Transactions 
for 1 * 81 . The necessity for preserving the 
laterals of evergreens when exposed was very 
manifest on the sand-wastes described in these 
columns last September under the title of 
“ Larch mere,” where the lesson was taught 
by Dame Nature’s self. 
Puddling the Roots.— In all transplant¬ 
ing, particularly of evergreens, great care 
should lie exercised to save a good supply of 
roots; to preserve the fibrous feeders, and 
carefully to guard them from exposure to the 
sun, wind and frost. For this purpose there 
should always be a puddle-hole at hand when 
digging tress, into which the roots should 
be iinmei'sed until well encased with the 
semi-fluid mixture of clayey loam and water, 
after which they must lie covered from the 
sun and wind until packed or planted. For 
this old gunuy sacks, tarpaulins, sphagnum, 
moss or litter may be used. Otherwise, and 
when the trees must remain for some time 
before planting, they should be carefully 
heeled-in on a somewhat elevated piece of 
ground, having a light and rather sandy soil. 
The trees may be inclined at an angle, pre¬ 
ferably toward the sun, and the earth should 
be carefully worked in among the roots so 
as to exclude the air. Do not crowd them too 
much; a single layer at a time Is best, and you 
may firm aach layer or row by pressing with 
the foot. If to remain for any length of time 
in the Winter they should lie covered with 
litter or evergreen boughs. 
Outfit ok Implements: Besides wagons, 
sleds and barrows for transportation, tools 
necessary for such an establishment will con¬ 
sist of the usual complement of plows, har¬ 
rows, cultivators of different kinds, rollers, 
seed drills, garden rakes and hooks, hoes, lines, 
markers, dibbles, trowels, knives and shears, 
and the very best heavy steel spades; for all 
which a commodious tool-house must be pro¬ 
vided in which this legend should prominently 
Ring’s Method.—Fig, 214.—See page 341. 
appear: “A place for everything and every¬ 
thing in its place,” and where everything must 
be kept xn perfect order. Suitable shells will 
be required for shelter and for storage as well 
as for jlacking when any of the stock has to 
lie prepared for transportation. 
The Seed-room should tie perfectly close, as 
a defense against vermin, and yet so arranged 
as to be capable of thorough ventilation. It 
should lie roomy for the storage of barrels, 
boxes and sacks of seeds, with shelving aud 
drawei's to hold the smaller packages of seeds. 
Drying kilns and thrashing floors should be 
near at hand. 
Materials: It is well to have on hand a 
good stock of the following articles: clean, 
sharp sand, saw-dust, straw or hay for litter, 
forest leaves, sphagnum, moss, woods’ earth, 
boxes for planting seeds and cuttings, lath and 
lath-screens, frames, glazed Hash or those cov¬ 
ered with muslin, all of which can be packed 
away in the sheds when uot in use. Shades, 
frames, arbors for shading the seed-beds are 
permanent fixtures—they must be plentifully 
provided aud maintained; so, also, there should 
lie full supplies of good soil for compost heaps, 
forest mold and clean sand near the seed-beds. 
The cellars for such an establishment should be 
roomy, dry and well secured from frost; they 
should be well ventilated and lighted so ns to 
make a comfortable work-room in the Winter, 
as well as a safe store-house for plants. 
In dra wing to a conclusion this series of the 
papers on forestry and arboriculture, which 
has for so long occupied its niche in the 
columns of our favorite weekly, the Rural 
New Yorker, the writer desires a brief con 
verse with Its readers. 
By some of the many intelligent persons 
who anticipate with pleasure the arrival of 
this weekly messenger, the columns appropri¬ 
ated to this department are no doubt passed 
by, and suffered rather than enjoyed; this is 
but natural, wbeu we consider the diversity 
Of tastes and interests of the large community 
to which its pages arc addressed; to such no 
message is indited here. 
It is hoped, however, that there is in the 
United States, and wherever these presents do 
come, a large and an increasing class, and an 
intelligent class of readers who appreciate 
the importance of this long neglected branch 
of rural affairs. It is to these especially 
and, as he trusts, for the benefit in some 
degree of all his follow countrymen, that these 
essays have been addressed, in the hope that 
with all their imperfections, they may cast 
some rays of light and encouragement upon 
the pathway of those who may be groping 
along the beginnings of our New Ameri¬ 
can Forestry. 
These teachings are but primary in their 
character, they were written for beginners, 
they make no pretensions to authority for the 
advanced forester and nurseryman, but they 
are intended rather as leading-strings for be¬ 
ginner's. than as guides for the experienced in 
wood craft, whose gentle criticisms are in¬ 
voked in their behalf, by one. who mid other 
scenes, aud busied by other occupations dur¬ 
ing a long and rather busy life, has been pur¬ 
suing his love for the trees that was early 
implanted, and which was encouraged by the 
distinguished botanist, Thomas Nuttall, who 
on returning from one of bis tours of Western 
exploration, induced me to plant tree-seeds, 
more than six decades of years ago. 
Pardon this personal allusion and be pleased 
to follow in the next group of the series, which 
is intended to give you a more particular in¬ 
troduction to the material composing our 
sylvan wealth, and will embrace a brief men¬ 
tion of American trees adapted for our plan¬ 
tations in the middle belt of on r broad lands, 
including also such worthy foreigners as have 
proved themselves deserving of a place among 
those which are destined to play a conspicuous 
part in the restoration of our wasted woods. 
-*-«-♦- 
WHEN TO TRIM TREES. 
To a querist in the Rural of May 12, with 
reference to the period for trimming fruit 
trees, the reply does not appear to me sufficient¬ 
ly definite to answer the practical purposes of a 
young cultivator. You say Spring is better 
than Fall, which is quite true, but is not eery 
late Spring much bettor than early f 
We want the wound produced by the ex¬ 
cision of a useless branch to heal over per¬ 
fectly in the shortest time and without leaving 
any signs of decay. No active motion of sap 
commences until warmth excites the buds. 
The sap which is drawn to the bud in early 
Spring by capillary attraction, is thin and 
watery, but would be useful in the tree if not 
lost by evaporation through the wounded 
part. It contains no formative matter, and, 
therefore, could not add a single cell for heal¬ 
ing purposes. The waste of sap continues 
until tlio downward flow of inspissated or 
thickened sap, containing the cell formation, 
reaches the exposed part. This being true, 
neither the Winter nor early Spring is best 
for trimming trees. 
“Trim when the leaves are off for growth, 
and in ,Summer for productiveness,” is the ad¬ 
vice often given. What time may we expect 
this return of thick sap? The leaf must grow 
to its full size and fill with parenchyma and 
all else necessary for chemical action, before 
the slightest change can take place in the 
ascending sap. In ordinary soa-sous there cun 
be no expansions iu branch or stem of tree 
until the middle of dime. I have generally 
found it, by experiment, rather later and not 
earlier. The reason is plain. The cambium 
expands as it hardens and the process contin¬ 
ues until after the fall of the leaf. If the 
branch is cut off iu the latter half of June 
a callus is formed at once all around the in¬ 
jured part, and it solidifies over a small por¬ 
tion of the cut even the first season, binding 
up the wound, if we may so explain. Does not 
the loss of leaves injure the tree?' Not if we 
take away the branch upon which the leaves 
are grown. (The main stem (body or trunk) of 
the tree suffers we think. —Eds.] The same 
conditions prevail in the tree at whatever 
time it may be pruned, w ith all the advantages 
in favor of a quick healing at the period in 
dicated, by which l mean to say that the 
roots conform to the changed condition of the 
top as readily in one ease as iu the other. 
Newburgh, N. Y. A. A. Bensel. 
(Tl)f Poulin) Dari). 
A SHARP CRITICISM. 
An article in the Rural New -Yorker, of 
May 12, entitled “ Experience with an incuba¬ 
tor,” shows plainly that the writer doesn’t 
know much about raising chicks. I don’t know’ 
anything about an incubator or the cost of 
running one: but as it is claimed that as many 
chicks can be obtained from a certain num¬ 
ber of eggs as when hatched by a hen, I can’t 
see any reason why he should have to set 100 
eggs to get 40 or 5Q chicks. I get on an aver¬ 
age, 00 chicks from 100 eggs. If his eggs are 
not fertile that is his fault; not that of the in¬ 
cubator ; if liis particular incubator is worth¬ 
less, that is another thing. 
He says that raising chickens hatched with 
an incubator is a total failure—his own fault 
again and I am persuaded that he doesn’t 
know how to raise them. The idea of allow¬ 
ing a hen to sit three weeks on dummy eggs 
iu order to have a mother for his chicks, is too 
absurd to be worthy of any comment what¬ 
ever. He says three of the hens to-whoso care 
the incubated chicks were consigned killed 
them almost immediately. Of course they 
did. they stepped on them and suffocated 
them; served him right again! 
Next he tried artificial mothers, which is 
about as reasonable as to set a hen three 
weeks on dummy eggs. He says a cat got at 
his artificial mother and killed 37 of his chicks 
in one night; served him right again! Is it 
possible that he did not know any better than 
to leave chicks in an artificial mother out-of- 
doors at night without any protection, es¬ 
pecially in a neighborhood infested by cats. 
It was his duty to have shot that cat before 
he hatched a chicken, aud it was also his 
duty to have put his chicks out of the reach of 
cate. He says lie lost a whole flock of Ply¬ 
mouth Rock fowls iu about a week with chol¬ 
era; served him right again! He ought to 
know batter than to have a Plymouth Rock 
on his place. Why, the experts employed by 
the Government to investigate the chicken 
cholera use Plymouth Rocks for their experi¬ 
ments because they are most, susceptible to the 
disease. 
T know of no reason why any mother at, all, 
either natural or artificial, is neccessary. 1 raise 
all my chicks without either and have for years. 
I have a quarter acre of ground in my lot, and 
I raised over bio last year, and have now over 
100 , and expect about 50 more and they have 
no mother and need none. The chicks are 
taken from the hen as fast as they are hatched, 
aud when she is through she is turned with the 
flock and w ill lay again in about 10 days, and 
I will raise more of her brood w ithout her 
help than with every time. 
The gentleman asks a number of questions 
of a person about to embark iu the chicken 
business, w hich I will not take space to answer, 
although 1 tun ijorfoetly able to do so from ex¬ 
perience [The Rural would be pleased to 
huve you. Eds.] 
If lie w ould like a few lessons in raising 
young chickens and the reason why they do 
best without a mother than with one. I would 
be most happy to enlighten him. [Our col¬ 
umns are open for all the information you can 
give on the subject. Eds.] 
I think it is very evident he doesn't know 
anything about the business, und therefore 
has acted wisely in giving it up; but he ought 
not to try to discourage others because he 
doesn’t know how himself. A. B. C. Salmon. 
- ♦ ♦♦ 
A Natural Hatchery. 
I am aw aiting with no small interest the 
controverey that may follow the recent pub¬ 
lication concerning incubators for hatching 
chicks. 1 constructed a hatchery (my own 
name for it) in which are 18 nests with 
15 eggs in each. All the nests are occupied by 
hens from a floek of 70 running at large on a 
farm. When a hen is found brooding she is 
moved to the hatchery. The 70 bens seem to 
be the requisite number to keep a hatchery of 
18 nests fully occupied. These hens and chicks 
are almost daily moved from, and eggs and 
hells into the hatchery, as the former are 
taken out of it. 
The fowls, though mixed with Hamburglis, 
sit remarkably well, and the lmt/eliery is ap¬ 
parently just the thiug, but results give me 
the blues. Neglect to close the hatchery was 
taken advantage of by a skunk, and some of 
the eggs were destroyed and the hens disturbed 
