CHAPTER VI. 
SHADE TREE PLANTING 
P REPARATIONS for planting shade trees begin with 
choosing the actual specimen from nursery stock and 
continue until the digging of the hole into which the tree 
is to be set. Each part of this program calls for the 
exercise of care, but there is no mystery about any 
feature of it. The one thing to be borne in mind is that 
each step is important. Nothing should be neglected and 
nothing left to chance or even to guesswork. Correct 
planting is half the battle. 
In the sense of establishing shade trees in city streets, 
planting necessarily means transplanting. To undertake 
to raise a tree from its beginning is a needless expenditure 
of time and effort. Trees of suitable size may be had of 
nurserymen at slight cost and with a saving of several 
years in the time required for development. It is possible, 
when technical knowledge is at hand, to satisfactorily 
transplant trees taken from the woods, but these are 
less likely to withstand the shock of moving than those 
which have been raised in nurseries, as the nursery trees, 
if well grown, have been replanted or root pruned every 
year or two, and have by this means been forced to form 
a compact root system that is not too large for the limited 
area of street environment. Forest trees, with their 
longer roots and fewer fibrous roots near the trunk, are 
more difficult to transplant and have less certainty of 
living than well selected nursery stock. The pruning of 
the top, undergone by the nursery tree, is also an impor¬ 
tant factor, as this frees the tree from branches for a height 
of several feet and likewise helps to bring about the devel- 
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