The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1854-08-12
Hest Time 10 Plant Trees.


b So much has been said and written on this .
eubject, that there seems to be little left to .
saw or write. have nothing new to offer;
but aim at lending fresh INTEREST," to twice ,
tod tale
At the outset let it not be forgotten, that /.
to the roots of plants, small rootlets or .fbrcs /.
ere attached; and that all fluids for the sup /.
port Of the plant, have to be chiefly received |,
through these fibres.
When a tree is transplantcd, many of the
.ibres are broken of or damaged; and If it
has never been transplauted before, most Of
tie tibres being at the ends OF the principal
roots, far away from the base of the tree,
will be left in the ground, and very few come
away withit If the operation is performed
late in the spring, the buds burst and the
leaves unfold, they ask for moisture, and if
the tree have an abundance Of iibres, they
get a fair supply; if they have few or none,
they wither and wilt, and no matter how
carefully planted, no matter how carefully
pruncd, mulched, or watcred afterwards,
nothing but very extraordinary skill indeed
can save them.
This is speaking oftrecs generally. Some
trees have very spongy wood, on which
moisture they can subsist till the tree has
had time to form new iibres. To this class
belong the ailanthus, paulownia, catalpa,
some poplars and willows Others have
hall heshy roots, and can draw small
amount of moisture from these for Il time
The horsc-chestnut, ash lindcns, many ma
pies, and some evergreens, are of this kind.
These do not suffer so certainly from the
want of librcs, as the majority of trees com
prising the numerous varieties OF oak, hlck-
DRY, birch, beech, chestnut, &c.
Now, as the roots of tree are continually
forming tibres, except when actually cnycl-
opcd in frozen soil, it directly follows that
the longer time we give tree before the
bursting of its buds, in which to establish
itself after transplanting, the better able Will
it be to meet the demands Of the foliage foI
moisture when the warm weather comes
and this brings me at once to the pith of the
subiect-7Ae ddrantdge Gf AWaMB plant.
ing A tree planted as soon after the fall Of
the leaf as possible, will begin to form iibies
at once, and continue to do 50 till spring calls
the foliage into action, when the roots will
be able to meet any ordinary demand made
on them; at any rate it has a better chance
than the same tree would have, if planted ii
spring.
do not deny that spring planting Ia,
many favorable points Of view. In my re-
cent work on trees, | have freely granted
this; and would here even 90 so far with
its advocates, as to admit that in some cases
and in skHJNL hdads, trees can be made &c
do better when planted early in spring, than
i'll the fall; but as a geacrw rDie and in
general hanas, and for the reason | have Civ
en-, autumn is the safest, and in many cases
the only safe time in which to remove trees
am aware that advice from nursery
man often loses much Of its weight, through
his being supposed to be interested, and ii
the present case am free to confess that
have an interest in the advice have given
1t is unpleasant to have ones customers
come when the trees are actually in leaf
with we bought some trees f----las
season, but they died; we want to see i
yours " i'll do better Is it not, Mr.. Freas
enough to make any man look wide awake,
when his business reputation hangs on sucl
slender threads; and need he blush to avov
interested motives in taking every opportuni
ty to ditfuse sound practical information?
Thomas MEEHAN.
Germantown, Ohio, June ID, lsj4.