FALL PLANTING 
By FRANK H. SWEET 
T HE great advantage which is gained by tail 
planting is that the tree, being well established 
in its new quarters, is ready to start into 
growth in the spring at the time when spring stock is 
being brought into the garden. 
The success or failure of fall planting is to a large 
degree dependent upon the care that is taken to 
protect the tree during the winter that follows. An 
abnormally dry and windy winter is likely to be fatal 
to newly set trees, unless they are planted early, in 
well-drained soil, and mulched to prevent alternate 
freezing and thawing near the surface. 
Earliness is essential to the success of fall planting; 
the trees must be in the ground well in advance of 
freezing weather—preferably a month. The first 
of November may be taken as the latest practicable 
date that is safe for planting the hardiest trees, 
shrubs and vines in the North. For perennials, 
October 15th is about the limit. No matter how 
carefully the transplanting may be done there will 
be an appreciable amount of injury done to the small 
roots of the trees, and early planting has to offset the 
damage; there will be ample time for the broken 
surfaces to heal over—to callus—even if they do not 
make some new growth before the winter cold 
strikes deep. Another advantage is that the soil will 
settle around the roots and trunk during the late fall 
and winter, which means that there is less likelihood 
of drying out in the early spring drought. 
The farmer, who has a large number of crops to 
harvest in the fall, may find himself too busy to 
attend to planting during the early fall months, and he 
is therefore justified in laying the work over till 
spring, but the owner of a country estate, where 
planting is done on a smaller scale, must consider 
that he is much more likely to be rushed with work 
in the spring. The planting of the vegetable garden 
and the sowing of flower seeds are big jobs that must 
always he done in the spring, and these alone are 
enough to keep any one busy, whereas there is 
plenty of time in the fall, and it is a delightful season 
for gardening, too, if people only knew it. 
When a lawn is to be made or seeded down in the 
spring it is much better to have the shrubs and border 
plants in position the previous fall. But they should 
be mulched. Many of even our hardiest shrubs and 
perennials, if not mulched in the fall, will suffer in 
early spring, not from deep freezing but from alter¬ 
nate freezing and thawing near the surface, which 
heaves and breaks the roots. 
Experience teaches that all the ordinary deciduous 
trees and the hardy fruits (apples, pears, and even 
the plum and cherry) can safely be transplanted 
during the first half of October. The tender 
stone fruits, on the other hand, do not become suffi¬ 
ciently established in their new quarters to with¬ 
stand the winter. All trees that start into growth 
very early in the spring are best planted in the 
fall; and to give specific examples, beech, birch and 
larch, unless planted at the earliest opening of spring, 
rarely live, yet present no difficulties in fall planting. 
Also elms, maples, oaks and thorns are safe subjects 
for fall planting. 
By fall planting we are made independent of the 
weather conditions of the following spring. Neither 
excessive drought nor excessive rains disturb us. 
Has any one ever known a normal spring ? Is it 
not usually wet and late or dry and windy ? In the 
former case, trees and other plants suffer from ex¬ 
posure before there is a chance to plant them, and if 
they encounter a drought soon afterward they are 
likely to die either that summer or the following 
winter. Many nurserymen believe that more spring- 
planted stock is killed by summer droughts than 
fall-planted stock is killed by winter cold. Spring 
planting is the customary thing; therefore we do 
not notice its failures. Fall planting is a new 
and improved way; therefore its failures are con¬ 
spicuous. 
There are two pitfalls in this matter of fall planting: 
(1) the danger of getting unripened stock, an d (2) 
being too late in the season. In order to guard 
against the one there is danger of running foul of the 
other. Of the two evils I think I would run my 
chances on being too late. 
The trees should stand in the ground until the 
foliage begins to fall. That indicates that the 
season’s growth has ceased and the tree may be 
moved without risk. In the effort to move the trees 
early, the leaves are sometimes stripped off before 
they are properly ripened. I he exact time of ripen¬ 
ing cannot be named for any particular species nor 
indeed for any particular season. The weather of 
the spring and winter—both warmth and moisture 
of the soil and even the exposure—are all factors that 
control this ripening of the wood. However, speak¬ 
ing for the North, trees are generally ready for dig¬ 
ging by the end of September, and it can be taken as a 
safe rule that fall planting should be done during the 
month of October, the earlier the better. The 
wide-awake gardener will place his orders during 
September, and if possible visit the nursery to make 
a personal selection. The nurseryman has a full 
stock in the fall, and a much better selection can be 
made than will be possible in the spring. 
One final caution: Don’t plant in the fall on wet 
land, but make plans for a system of drainage and 
have all ready to plant in the spring. 
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