ARBOR DA V MANUAL . 
3 r 9 
buds survive. Each leaf helps to sustain the limb which carries it, and each limb fur¬ 
nishes some nourishment to the common trunk for the common welfare. The tax is 
always adjusted according to the ability of each to contribute. As the limbs of a tree are 
striving for the mastery, so each bush and tree in grove or forest is striving with others 
for the mastery. The weakest succumb to the strongest; some perish early, some lead 
a feeble existence for many years, while even the strongest are more or less injured. 
With plenty of room, the trunk will be short, the branches many and widespread ; where 
crowded the lower limbs perish for want of light. Dead limbs fall to the ground to pro¬ 
tect and enrich it for nourishing the surviving limbs and the trunk. The scars heal over, 
more limbs perish as new ones creep upward, and thus we find tall, clean trunks in a 
dense forest. 
White Oak.— To be successful, it is very important to know how to gather and care 
for seeds and nuts. 
Yellow \jVood (Robert).— Gather the seeds or nuts of trees when ripe and, if con¬ 
venient, plant them where the trees are expected to remain. In this list we include 
•especially the trees which have long tap roots, and do not easily transplant, such as the 
■tulip tree, the hickories, the oaks, the walnuts and chestnuts. The seeds of elms and 
' maples are not easily kept over winter. Seeds of evergreens, the larch, and the locusts 
may be dried and kept as grain is kept. Many seeds and nuts may be mixed with an 
equal bulk of sand as it is dug from a knoll, and buried a few inches or a foot below 
the surface. In spring they may be carried to the garden and planted. Soak seeds of 
locust and honey locust in hot water till the outer covering softens, and then plant. 
Soak seeds of evergreens three or four days in water, changed daily, and then plant very 
shallow in rows a few inches apart in rich loam, well screened by lath, brush or muslin. 
See that weeds do not rob the young plants of light, room and nourishment. Evergreens 
in small quantity, when small and two or three years old, can be purchased of experts 
more cheaply than they can be raised at home. These can be set in rows and cultivated 
for a few years like Indian corn. For further details you are advised to read copies of 
our State horticultural reports, take lessons of a nurseryman, or go to the Agricultural 
College. 
White Oak.— It is of little use to plant seeds or buy trees, unless we know how to 
handle them while moving. 
Kentucky Coffee Tree (Hiram). — In taking up a tree, whether large or small, do not 
twist it about so as to break or bend the roots abruptly. Get all the roots vou can afford 
to 2 remembering that a tree will not grow without roots. 
When out of the ground keep the roots constantly covered with soil, moss, damp 
'Straw or something else. The roots are far more sensitive to dry air than the parts above 
aground. No one need wonder that trees carted into town with short roots exposed to dry 
. air, often fail to grow, or lead a precarious life for years. Study the structure and the physi- 
. ology of a tree and treat it as one who always makes every thing thrive which he cares for. 
White Oak.— How shall we care for the trees after planting? 
Apple Tree (Hannah).— To set a tree so as to insure its thrifty growth, place it but 
little deeper than it was while growing. Have the soil well pulverized and pack it 
- closely about itihie tree. 
After all this trouble, do not court disappointment in the slow growth or in the death 
. of a favorite tree, but dig or rake the ground every week or two, all summer for three to 
five years, for a distance of four feet or more each way from the tree. If this is imprac¬ 
ticable, place a mulch of something covering the space above mentioned. 
White Oak.— After planting, trees sometimes become too thick. What shall we do? 
Pear Tree (Andrew).— A tree, like a child, is a living, organized being and keeps 
- changing as long as life lasts. It is not best merely to set as many trees as we expect to 
remain for a life-time, but plant them more thickly with a view to removal. Here is 
•where ninety-nine out of one hundred fail. They do not keep an eye on the growth and 
-trim or remove trees until they have crowded and damaged each other beyond recovery. 
In most instances, a few large, well-developed trees should grow where many small ones 
were planted years before. It needs courage and judgment to remove some favorite 
trees that others may continue to spread and make asymmetrical growth. 
White Oak.— Next will follow something in reference to the flowers of trees. 
Bitternut (Silas).— With rare exceptions, our trees bear flowers which are incon¬ 
spicuous. The elms and the maples produce flowers in spring before the leaves appear. 
Most have the staminateand pistillate flowers on different parts of the tree or on differ- 
■ent trees. The wind or gravity carries the pollen to the pistil, so there is no need oJ 
sweet odors or a gay display of flowers to attract bees and butterflies and moths to carry 
the pollen. Compensation is well displayed in nature. If the tree has not gorgeous or 
fragrant flowers, it has a large size and often a beautiful form. 
White Oak.-^Wfi should learn to love trees and to associate them with the generous 
hand who planted and cared for them. 
Wild Plum (Ezra).—I will tell you something which was written by Washington Irving: 
■“ Jhere is something noble, simple and pure in a taste for trees. It argues, I think, a 
