31 
November, 1916 
WHAT OF YOUR TREES’ HEALTH? 
If All Is Not as It Should Be, Here Are Remedies for 
Each Case — Planting and Caring for Young Trees 
T HE trees on the average small place 
are the most commonly neglected of its 
several features. This is due partly to care¬ 
lessness, but it is undoubtedly chargeable in 
large measure to ignorance. If we set out 
a plant amid conditions too uncongenial, in 
a week or two it is dead, and so we learn 
the lesson. But it frequently takes several 
years for a tree to succumb finally, and by 
the time the end is reached we have forgot¬ 
ten what may have been the original trouble. 
It is also true that the common large trees 
are not adequately appreciated by the ma¬ 
jority of people in our eastern States, at 
ieast. In Japan, on the other hand, where 
the gentle art of gardening has reached a 
higher development than anywhere else in 
the world, they almost worship their trees. 
Of a truth, “East is East and West is 
West,” even horticulturally. 
Many people have the decidedly mistaken 
idea that the only trees worth buying and 
setting out are the more or less expensive 
shrubs or evergreens which are not native 
to most sections of the country. The idea 
of paying out good money for a pine or a 
birch or a maple seems to go against the 
grain. As a matter of fact there are many 
places where such trees are to be had for 
the trouble of digging them up and trans¬ 
planting them, but even this is considered 
too high a price. And yet for many pur- 
F. F. ROCKWELL 
poses pines and maples are as good trees as 
can be had, and there is nothing listed in 
the catalogs more beautiful and graceful 
than a well cared for group of white birches. 
The Care of Young Trees 
Trees may be set out in either early spring 
or late fall—the locality, the variety and 
the season all go to determine which is bet¬ 
ter—but in either case care should be taken 
not to expose the roots to sun and wind. 
If they are from the nursery, do not remove 
the packing about the roots until the holes 
are ready to receive them; and if you are 
digging them up yourself, wrap the roots in 
wet bagging as soon as they are taken from 
the soil. Another general mistake is to have 
the holes too small: not only should they 
be large enough to receive the roots with¬ 
out bending and crowding, but the subsoil 
and adjoining earth should be loosened up 
with a pick (or a small charge of 20% 
dynamite, if it is clayey and packed hard). 
Any bruised or broken roots should be cut 
off clean just below the wound; if large 
roots have to be cut, smear a little coal-tar 
over the ends to prevent decay. If the roots 
have to be pruned back to any extent, the 
top also should be headed in to a correspond¬ 
ing degree to preserve proportion. 
The roots should be set as deep as or a 
trifle deeper than they have been growing, 
and fine loose soil put in first and worked 
about the rootlets as firmly as possible. A 
few handfuls of ground bone mixed through 
the soil, if it is not naturally in pretty good 
condition, will help in getting a strong start, 
but manure should not be used. If any 
sods have been taken up, as in planting on 
the lawn, do not save them to be put back 
in their original position, but break them 
up and mix in with the soil while filling in, 
and leave a circle of fine loose soil on the 
surface about the tree. The soil below this 
should be tamped in as firmly as possible. 
Throw in a shovelful or two, and with the 
foot or the shovel handle firm it down hard 
before putting in the next layer. If the soil 
is dry pour in a half pailful or more of 
water when the hole is about two-thirds 
filled, let it soak down until none stands on 
the surface, and then proceed with the fill¬ 
ing. If very hot, dry weather follows the 
planting, mulch the soil about the trunk with 
old manure or litter, being very careful not 
to bring anything up against the bark which 
might cause decay. 
Only very slight pruning will be required 
for most specimens. As a general thing it 
will be best done in early fall when the trees 
are becoming dormant and the leaves have 
ripened but not yet fallen. All dead or 
broken wood, and branches that have grown 
(Continued on page 60) 
Courtesy of Davey Tree Expert Co. 
Life for the “tree of love ” is not all easy, hut this one at least is assured of a comfortable old age. After all the initials had been cut, 
and all the rot holes well started, the tree surgeons came along and carried a cement operation to a successful conclusion 
