FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
149 
in the world we must watch our fields, I trust I have in some small way cast 
watch our competition and watch our a little light on the methods of growing 
packs. and shipping pineapples. 
PLANTING OF FRUIT TREES. 
By Aubrey Frink. 
Mr. President } Ladies and Gentlemen: 
Early in April I received a letter from 
President Rolfs asking me to prepare a 
paper for the Horticultural meeting, but 
lie did not suggest a topic. After some 
correspondence with Prof. Rolfs, we de¬ 
cided upon the subject of Planting Fruit 
Trees. 
My reason for selecting this topic is 
that there seems to be a very general de¬ 
sire for information along this line. 
Scarcely a day passes during the planting 
season that I don't receive inquiries as 
to when to plant, how to prune for plant¬ 
ing, about fertilizers and fertilizing, best 
sized trees to set, etc. And, no wonder, 
for the success of an orchard depends 
to a considerable extent on proper meth¬ 
ods in planting. 
WHEN TO PLANT. 
The., best time for setting fruit trees 
is one of the first things to be considered. 
As a general rule fruit trees do better 
when set during late fall or early winter 
—as soon as they have hardened up their 
growth and become dormant. Trees 
planted then will have time R> become 
established in their new positions and 
nearly all of them will have put on feeder 
rootlets before time for growth to start 
in the spring; thus enabling them to start 
promptly and make and sustain a good 
first growth in the spring, as well as suc¬ 
ceeding growths, and to withstand 
drouth. 
Many people suppose that when a tree 
is dormant, it is dormant in root as 
well as in top, but if you care to test this, 
dig up a few trees during the late fall 
and heel them in or transplant them, and 
then during late winter or early spring 
before top growth has started, dig them 
up and examine the roots. You will 
nearly always find small rootlets long be¬ 
fore the top shows any signs of starting. 
If planting is left until spring, the top 
will start out immediately and before the 
roots have time to throw out feeders, 
thus drawing severely upon the stored-up 
sap within the tree, with the result, too 
often, that the vitality of the tree is 
weakened and not infrequently it suc¬ 
cumbs, especially in case of a severe 
drouth. 
Deciduous trees can be planted success¬ 
fully only when dormant, during the late 
fall, winter or early spring. But Citrus 
trees can be planted at almost any time 
when conditions are favorable; that is, 
when the ground is moist and weather 
cloudy, although they, too, generally do 
better for being planted during late fall 
or early winter. Some planters like to 
plant during the rainy season of mid¬ 
summer. 
