You can, and should, have fruit trees in your garden, however small it may be. Even if there is no open ground, there is surely a place 
for training trees on a lattice or wall 
Grow Your Own Fruit 
WHEN AND HOW TO PLANT THE YOUNG TREES—THE CHOICE BETWEEN ONE-YEAR 
AND TWO-YEAR TREES-THE MATTER OF PRUNING— CULTIVATION AND FILLER CROPS 
by F . F . Rockwell 
Photographs by.Nathan R. Graves and E. F. Hall 
[Mr. Rockzvell's series of articles that appeared last year in these pages, under the title “Grow Your Own Vegetables,” met zuith so many 
expressions of appreciation that zee are doubly glad to follozv it zeith three- articles on an equally important phase of the home garden. The first 
article, which appeared last month, took up the important matter of selecting , the, varieties best suited to the needs of the home orchard .— Editor.] 
T HE first article on this subject dealt with the question -of 
varieties for the home orchard. This matter is so import¬ 
ant that I want to emphasize it by repeating one bit of advice 
given: make out your list to the best of your judgment from 
what information you may have or be able to get from observa¬ 
tion or nursery catalogues, and then submit it to your State 
Experiment Station for approval. The chances are that some 
of the good varieties will not do so well as others in your par¬ 
ticular locality. Find out before you plant. 
As a general thing you will succeed best if you have nothing 
to do with the perennial “tree agent.” He may represent a good 
firm; you may get your trees on time; he may have a novelty 
as good as the standard sorts; but you are taking three very 
great chances in assuming so. But, leaving these questions aside, 
there is no particular reason why you should help pay his travel¬ 
ing expenses and the printing bills for his lithographs (“made 
from actual photographs” or “painted from nature,” of course!) 
when you can get the best trees to be had, direct from the soil 
in which they are grown, at the lowest prices, by ordering through 
the mail. Or, better still, if the nursery is not too far away, 
take half a day ofif and select them in person. If you want to 
help the agent along present him with the amount of his com¬ 
mission, but get your trees direct from some large reliable nur¬ 
sery. 
Well grown nursery stock will stand a good deal of abuse, but 
it won’t be at all improved by it. Don't let yours stand around in 
the sun and wind, waiting until you get a chance to set it out. As 
soon as you get it home from the express office, unpack it and 
“heel it in,” in moist, but not wet, ground; if under a sh^d, so 
much the better. Dig out a narrow trench and pack it in as 
thick as it will go, at an angle of forty-five degrees to the natural 
position when growing. So stored, it will keep a long time in 
cold weather, only be careful that no rats, mice, or rabbits 
reach it. 
Do not, however, depend upon this knowledge to the extent 
of letting all your preparations for planting go until your stock 
is on hand. Be ready to set it the day it arrives, if possible. 
Planting 
Planting can be done in either spring or fall. As a general 
rule, north of Philadelphia and St. Louis, spring planting will 
be best; south of that, fall planting. Where there is apt to be 
severe freezing, “heaving,” caused by the alternate freezing and 
thawing; injury to the newly set roots from too severe cold, 
and, in some western sections, “sun-scald” of the bark, are three 
injuries which may result. If trees are planted in the fall in 
cold sections, a low mound of earth, six to twelve inches high, 
should be left during the winter about each, and leveled down 
in the spring. If set in the spring, where hot, dry weather is 
apt to follow, they should be thoroughly mulched with litter, 
(161) 
