8 The Colorado Experiment Station. 
wanted and where one has no time to grow them from seedlings. 
Nursery grown trees, if properly handled, have been transplanted 
one or more times. This causes the root system to thicken up, or 
become condensed in a relatively small space, and thus makes it 
possible to secure practically all of the roots in a compact mass when 
dug. Some nurserymen, who make a specialty of growing ever¬ 
green stock, furnish trees each with a ball of earth which contains 
most of the roots and enables one to plant them with confidence. 
Trees up to eight feet in height may in this way be safely shipped 
and transplanted, but, of course, they are correspondingly expensive. 
Nursery grown seedlings four to ten inches high and one to 
three years old can be purchased in quantity from the leading 
nurserymen and are often cheaper than forest grown seedlings if 
one considers the time and labor required to obtain the latter. 
Nursery grown stock, whether in seedling or larger sizes, is usually 
cheaper in the end than forest trees for, not only are the trees 
more apt to live, but, having been adapted to conditions in the open, 
they are surer to make a rapid and healthy growth. 
THE PROPER TIME TO TRANSPLANT EVERGREENS. 
It is generally recommended that evergreens are best trans¬ 
planted in spring. This is particularly the case in a climate like 
that which prevails in Colorado. Fall planting is claimed to be 
satisfactory by some nurserymen and it may prove successful in 
other climates. But the lack of soil moisture which often prevails 
here in the winter season, together with the drying winter winds, 
makes fall planting a very hazardous undertaking. Trees of this 
class will often bear later transplanting than other kinds. The 
proper time, however, is when the buds are swelling, as at this 
time the vital processes of the tree are just commencing. Hence 
neAV root growth is taking place which* will enable the tree to secure 
water from the soil and to become established. 
PRUNING. 
It is seldom necessary to prune carefully dug nursery grown 
evergreens, when they are transplanted, unless it is desired to 
change their shape. The same is true of seedling trees, even 
forest grown. 
In transplanting forest grown trees of more than one foot in 
height it may be desirable to cut back the limbs one-third to reduce 
the loss of moisture from the leaves. 
It is best to preserve the terminal bud, as this gives rise to 
the leader or main stem. If by any means this bud is destroyed it 
sometimes occurs that two or three of the next lower whorl of buds 
will push up equally strong shoots. In this case all but one should 
