HARRISON’S NURSERIES, BERLIN, MD. 
planted then, that is one of the very best times. In 
most cases, however, you will find that the thaw 
will come in February or March, and you must be 
prepared to set your trees then. Much planting, 
of course, has been done in April or even in May, 
with success. But your trees have to run risks 
with such late planting which they do not have to 
face when planted earlier. 
When a box of trees arrives at your station, be 
careful that it is not exposed to severe cold for 
any length of time, or to hot sun and drying wind. 
If the trees do get frozen, your plan is either to 
bury the trees, box and all, or put the box, unopened, 
in a cool cellar. The idea, in either case, is to let 
the frozen packages thaw out gradually. If you 
are not ready to plant immediately upon the arrival 
of the trees, or as soon as they have thawed out, 
unpack them, mix some loamy soil into thin mud 
in a hole in the ground or in a tub, dip the roots in 
this till they have a good thick coat, then trench 
them in with the tops toward the south. To do 
this, dig a ditch about 2 feet deep, the north side 
perpendicular and the south side sloping, lay the 
trees in, roots to the north. Cover roots and most 
of the trunks with a foot or so of dirt. When the 
time comes to plant, go over the roots and cut off, 
on a slant, the face of which is down, all broken 
roots. Give the trees another coat of thin mud; or 
set the bunch of trees in this mud and take them 
out one by one right at the holes. 
In preparing the ground for the trees, dig at 
least 2 feet deep and 3 feet wide. Thoroughly mix 
the soil you take out, and then you can put about 
a foot of it back. A recent development is to use 
a small amount of dynamite in preparing the holes. 
Run a bar down 30 or 40 inches deep, and explode 
a third, a half or a whole stick at the bottom of 
the hole. The charge should not throw out the 
dirt, but heave it. We recommend that you use 
dynamite whenever possible, as it prepares the 
soil much better than can be done in any other 
way, and makes the trees grow much faster. 
Start the trees. 10 inches deeper than you want 
them to set. Sprinkle fine dirt.,in among the roots, 
and, as you continue to do this, jolt the trees up 
and down so as to settle the dirt in among the 
fine roots. As the hole fills up keep packing the 
dirt. Use a heavy maul and come down on the 
dirt with all your weight. You cannot get it too 
tight about the roots. This packing is one of the 
secrets of getting trees to grow. The top inch or 
two of dirt, however, should be loose to conserve 
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