THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
any gTeeiilioiise man why lie is so ])artienlar ahont 
Itlie soil on his henches. Ask him what he does to 
make a good rich soil. He will tell you that hmnns, 
nitrogen, and ])hos]diorns are all essential to ])erfect 
plant growth. Soils that are ])orons, hlack and full 
of hmnns are tilled with ])lant food and the roots of 
whatever crop sown on them can feed easily through 
tlie soil. The French farmer removes the top soil 
of his small acreage and takes it with him when he 
moves into new ground. He puts in a great deal of 
time in getting it in the right state of fertility and 
he would rather move it than hiiild ii]) another soil. 
Any soil can be imjiroved. In fact it can he made 
•to improve itself. Sow a thin soil to vetch, cow- 
peas, clover or alfalfa and they will grow in fertility 
while yon take off a yearly crop of seed or grain, 
which can he used as meal for live stock feeding. 
IMany farmers have found that sowing legumes in 
corn, cotton or small grain, and then turning this 
legume under when the seed bed is pre])ared for the 
following year’s cro]p adds greatly to the soil’s con¬ 
dition and su])])lies large amounts of available plant 
food. Thousands of farms have been saved with a 
three year rotation of clover, clover following a crop 
of corn or oats, being seeded with the oats and yield¬ 
ing two cuttings, then being turned under for the 
next year’s crop. 
In soils where clover inoculation is abundant, clov¬ 
er has been used to wonderful advantage because of 
its ability to take nitrogen from the air and store it 
in its roots. All legumes, if properl}^ inoculated, 
will take nitrogen from the air and store it in the 
little wart-like bunches in their roots. The soil con¬ 
tains air and wherever air is found it contains ni¬ 
trogen, the elemental plant food. If your soil is 
hard and your seed bed in wliicli you sow legumes, 
or any other cro]), is not properly pidverized, it will 
take longer for a legume crop to build up your soil. 
It is easily possible by the ]moper use of a few simple 
cro]^s to bring back any soil into a state of fertility 
that is indeed an improvement on its virgin condi¬ 
tions. 
DELIVERING PLANTS IN GOOD CONDITION. 
The delivery of trees, shrubs and evergreens from 
the nurseryman to his customer in good sha])e is one 
of the most im])ortant factors of his business. There 
is no question that more trees are ruined during this 
])eriod than at any other time. 
The handling of fruit tiees has hecoine a science 
with the storage cellars and efficient methods of i)ack- 
ing. This is made possible by having uniform 
grades and uniform ways of handling but with orna¬ 
mental trees the conditions are entirely different. 
Trees of all sizes are dug and delivered to the cus¬ 
tomers, from small saplings to trees measuring five to 
six inches in caliper. The same applies to the vary¬ 
ing sizes in shrubs, evergreens and other plants. In 
addition to this such trees and ])lants of varying sizes 
vannot be dug and stored but must be dug from the 
nursery and delivered direct to the customer; locally 
hauled in wagons and if at a distance packed in bales, 
boxes or loaded on freight cars. 
With soft wooded trees, such as Poplars, AVillows, 
Hoft ]\Iai)les and the majority of free growing shrubs, 
there is usually very little mortality if they are hand¬ 
led with a reasonable amount of care and dispatch, 
keei)ing the roots from very long exposure to sun and 
wind, but in the case of the liard wooded trees, such 
as Oaks, Beech, Dogwoods and those kinds that do 
not have many fibrous roots there is always liable to 
be a greater mortality. For these kinds of trees nur- 
iSerymen really ought to get a much higher price and 
give better care in handling. They should dig with 
more care and where it is impossible to dig with a 
ball the roots should be kept covered and every 
means taken to protect what little fibre they have. 
In the case of the evergreens it has become almost 
a universal custom to dig with a ball and burlap, 
with i)erhai)s the exception of small stock and some 
of the very free growing kinds, such as Norway 
Spruce and American Arbor Vitae, but many nur¬ 
series now are including even these and also the 
choicer shrubs and small trees that are usually dif¬ 
ficult to transplant, such as the Japanese Maples, 
Dogwoods, Magnolias and in fact any shrub that can 
be dug with a ball successfully and where the price 
obtained for it will warrant the extra labor and ex- 
])ense. Very few customers object to paying a little 
more for transjmrtation owing to the weight through 
being shipped with a ball as all iJanters realize the 
extra value of plants that have been carefully hand¬ 
led and the roots kept from exposure and it would 
be better for the nurseryman to adopt a policy of 
more care in digging, better care while out of the 
ground and charge a higher price for the extra cost 
of such service. 
GOOD REPORT FROM THE WEST. 
Marshall Bros., Arlington Nursery, Arlington, 
Nebraska, report that they have had a very satisfac- 
(tory season this spring, and the best clean up they 
have had for several years. Business has been ex¬ 
tremely brisk and a good per cent, of it coming right 
in the shipping season. Some varieties of Apx)les 
have lagged a little but the general stock is cleaning 
up extremely well and many varieties of fruit are en¬ 
tirely exhausted even before the close of the shipp- 
])ing season. They report that nnrserynien and 
horticulturists in their part of the country are in a 
very optimistic and enthusiastic frame of mind with 
the prospects of a good season to follow. Condi- 
itions in that part of the country are very good gen¬ 
erally and with average climatic conditions antici- 
