April* 
140 THE CULTIVATOR. 
Most of the directions, given in the preceding ar¬ 
ticle on transplanting fruit trees, are equally appli¬ 
cable to shade trees. But there is one all essential 
part of the work, without which failure is about as 
certain as the course of water down hill, and that is, 
the trees after being set out must be carefully pro¬ 
tected from the rubbing of street animals. We have 
seen trees five inches through, w 7 hich had been mo¬ 
ved with nearly a ton of earth on the roots, all de¬ 
stroyed the second year by the rubbing of pigs and 
cattle. The best, most substantial, and most dura¬ 
ble protection, consists of three posts in the form 
of an equilateral triangle, enclosing the tree, with 
horizontal cross pieces, or boards securely nailed to 
the posts. This frame will besides prevent those, 
who think a tree is a very handy object to hitch a 
horse to, from spoiling it by allowing the horse to 
gnaw the bark. “You will be exceedingly vexed/*' 
says a late writer, in allusion to such a disaster, 
“but will be consoled by the assurance that the own¬ 
er never knew his horse to do so before—and you 
will wish him and his horse at- the end of their 
journey!* 5 
A few brief directions for planting shade trees, 
may be summed up as follows:— 
1. Dig the hole before the tree is taken up, for 
being large, its roots cannot be so easily protected 
from dying as a smaller tree, and it should therefore 
be out of the ground as short a period as possible. 
2. If the trees are two to three inches in diame¬ 
ter, the holes must not be less than six feet in dia¬ 
meter, and a foot and a-half deep, and the roots of 
the tree taken up, of nearly corresponding size. 
3. Cut round the tree two and a-half or three 
feet from the stem, and lift it out without tear¬ 
ing the roots or bruising the stem—not after the re¬ 
commendation published some years ago, as a very 
careful mode of removing, “ cutting the roots with 
an axe, and dragging the trees out with a yoke of 
oxen.** 
4. Cut off or thin out one-half or three-fourths of 
the top, having an eye to the future shape of the 
tree. This lessens the number of leaves, the 
draught is less severe on the roots, the fewer shoots 
grow more rapidly and the wind has less power on 
the tree. 
5. Plant the tree no deeper than before - as some 
one quaintly remarks, “nature has attended to the 
growing of trees some six thousand years, and can¬ 
not in this particular be improved upon.** 
6. As soon as the tree is set, then immediately 
erect the tripod-protection, already described. 
7. Cover the ground several inches deep with lit 
ter, in a circle six feet in diameter. The soil can¬ 
not be easily cultivated, and this mulching is the best 
substitute. 
Trees treated according to these rules, will begin 
to grow immediately, and will form handsome, rich, 
dense masses of foliage, in less time than those 
which are carelessly torn from the earth and hastily 
planted like a fence-post, can recover from the vio¬ 
lence which they have received. It is better to 
plant ten trees well, than twenty or thirty badly. 
Trees which have grown in the open ground are 
hardier and far better than those taken from the for¬ 
est. Thick woods afford almost the protection of a 
green house j and trees removed from them and set 
out in open air often perish solely in consequence of 
their tenderness. Those from borders of swamps 
are often better than those from upland, the soft 
mucky soil more perfectly admitting the entire re¬ 
moval of the roots. The dissimilarity of soil where 
they are placed, rarely proves of any detriment. 
As a general rule, such trees have succeeded much 
the best with us. This is also, particularly the case 
with evergreens , which always need a large cake of 
earth to be removed entire upon the roots. This cake 
should always be large enough to hold the tree stiff 
against the wind without any staking When this 
has been done, we have never lost a single evergreen 
tree by transplanting . In the borders of swamps, 
where the muck is shallow on a hard-pan, the roots 
of evergreen trees usually form a thick mat of roots, 
all near the surface - r cutting round one with a 
spade, allows the tree to be taken up with great 
ease, the whole mass of the roots and muck peeling 
readily off from the hard-pan. 
Inquiries Answered. 
AGE or TRANSPLANTED PEACH TEE2S. 
“Will Peach Trees, one year from the bud, bear 
as soon as those two years from the bud?** A. P. 
Clarkson, N . Y. 
According to the experiments we have made, 
peach trees of the usual size at two years, well 
treated, will eome into bearing decidedly sooner 
than one-year trees. Such trees need the shorten¬ 
ing-in process, as an indispensibl-e requisite to com¬ 
plete success, at the time they are set out. Treated 
in the best manner, and with the ground kept clear 
and mellow afterwards, such trees not unfrequently 
produce from two to three peeks of fruit the third 
summer. 
SHORTENING-IN CHERRIES. 
“Will it be a good plan to shorten-in my young 
cherry trees, which have become rather top-heavy 
by their vigorous growth, some shoots having made 
two and a-half feet the past season?** /. 1\ 
Home, N. F. 
No harm ©an result in cutting back the young 
shoots, to render the tree less top-heavy; but, un¬ 
less the head is quite thinly formed, it may be advi¬ 
sable wherever a cut is made, to take off the entire 
shoot,which would in such case give the head a neat¬ 
er and cleaner appearance. It scarcely ever becomes 
necessary to prune the head of a cherry tree to let 
in the light, which is so essential for the peach. 
ROOT GRAFTING. 
“ In root-grafting, how long must the scion be-, 
and how far above ground when set out—must the 
ground be packed around it? Is paper as good as 
muslin for the plasters?** D. D. D. Ili&n, N. F. 
The graft should be about three or four inches 
long, and the tip must be just even with the surface 
of the ground, which prevents the danger of its be¬ 
coming too much dried. The earth should be close¬ 
ly packed around it for the same purpose. More 
care, however, is usually needed in packing well 
about the root below, careless workmen usually 
leaving interstices. A deep, inverted sod, where 
the soil is sufficiently fertile, is much better for set¬ 
ting out root-grafts than other ground, being attend¬ 
ed with fewer losses. Muslin is better than paper, 
as usually applied •—but if thin, tough paper is se¬ 
lected, and the wax applied copiously, it is fully 
equal to muslia. 
GRAFTING WAX. 
“ I notice in the American Fruit Culturist, that 
a cheap grafting wax is recommended composed of 
6 parts of beeswax, 1 of rosin and 1 of linseed oil. 
As beeswax is rather high priced, is there not some 
mistake in this?** P. Ontario Co. iV. F. 
This mistake escaped correction in consequence 
of the distance of the author from the printing of¬ 
fice. It should he fi parts of rosin, 1 of beeswax, 
and 1 of oil. 
