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Having selected his trees in the nursery, let him take them up himself, 
and never allow a root, however small, to be broken, if it can be avoid¬ 
ed—and now let him not throw them into his wagon and run home with 
them, even though he have only three or four miles to go ; his the small 
fibrous roots which give to the tree its early support. If these once dry, 
many of their sporules will close, never to open again, and by this ap¬ 
parently little neglect, the tree will often lose a whole year’s growth— 
let the trees be wrapt then immediately on being taken from the ground, 
in such manner that every root, however small, may be kept constantly 
damp till it is in the ground again ; by attending to this advice he will 
save time, trouble and expense. 
Having arrived at home with his trees well selected, so carefully dug 
that all their roots have been preserved, and so carefully wrapt that not 
one has been allowed to dry, they are well worth the enquiry—“How 
shall he plant them ?” 
Let one fact now be borne in mind, that the tree must be to a certain 
extent matured, before it can bear fruit—till that stage of maturity then, 
attention need be paid to the growth only. Treat it in this respect as 
you would rear your farm stock for breeding. Till they have arrived at 
a certain age the farmer’s whole attention is given to a rapid and vigorous 
growth—they are then in fittest condition to improve in propagation. 
The same principle applies to his tree—the growth of body first—the fruit 
afterwards. During this time then, the tree miist have a full supply of 
carbon. That of ammonia (nitrogen) should be limited. To give it this 
let the holes be dug large and be filled with a liberal proportion of black 
earth, decayed vegetable matter, and well rotted barn yard manure, no 
matter how much this last has been washed of its ammonia.* For apple 
trees, the holes should be dug from three to five feet in diameter, two 
feet deep and from thirty-five to forty feet apart—fill them even with the 
surface with a compost formed by working thoroughly together, about 
equal parts of barn yard wash, or well rotted chip manure, and the earth 
which was thrown out—if the land be clayey, the addition of a little lime 
and sand will be beneficial. Let the tree now be set lightly on this even 
* By giving the tree at this time, and for the next three years, an occasional washing 
with soap-suds,- by digging in about the roots a little leached ashes, and old bones, you 
supply it with such inorganic substances as stimulate it to assimilate a large quantity 
of carbon, in other words, to grow rapidly. 
