The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1870-06-24
Moving Large Apple Trees.

FOR the Denent OF any oil your read
ers who may have trees from six to
ten years. growth, which they for any
reason would like to move, / will
give my experience and success. /
came into possession of my present
farm in the Spring of 1868, on which
were about 1000 apple trees, most of
them eight years old, from four to six
inches in diameter, with large thrifty
tops on them they were set in rows
Is feet apart, quincunx form, intend
ing, when they had given few crops
and before they began to interfere, to
cut out every other row so that they
would stand 80 feet apart each way,
in square rows. Having given much
thought and inqu: Try to the subject of
moving trees of that size, concluded
to try them. Accordingly l COM
menced Nov. 80, 1853, with four men
and myself, to take out every other
row. There was an inch or two of
snow, but for two weeks or nearly, no
frost; then we were driven off by bad
weather, but in a few days were at
them again, and by working in mild
weather up to January 18, 1869, got
out enough to fill all acre lot at 80
feet each way. The trees handled
best when the ground was frozen
from one to two inches. Our plan
was this dig trench, two or more
feet around the tree, and one-half feet
deep, all around the tree; tip the top
fthe tree over to the ground on one
side, using care not to break the ball
of earth holding on to the roots; fill
the hole partly up drive up with low
sled, made on purpose with wide
wooden runners, pretty close to the
tree, and with lever Ii feet long, two
men holding 1t, pry over one corner
of the sled, while one or two more
took hold of the top or body of the
tree, and gradually rs the men on the
lever bore down, the others would
bring the tree to a perpendicular po-
sition; then, all together swing it
round on the sled then with ropes
make fast, fore and aft, to corners Of
sled, and drive away. One man was
kept in the new orchard all the time
to bank up each tree after setting, and
dig hole for the next one, while two
were left to dig up the next tree. In
that way we set from Is to rs trees
per day, always using care in placing
roots as carefully as possible, and al
ways to set the same side of the tree
to the south, as it grew before taking
up. Occasionally the earth would
fall from the roots in spite of all we
could do, while most of them had
from 100 to 800. pounds of earth at
tached to the roots.
In March gave these trees o severe
pruning, cutting them two or three
times as much as l should had they
not been moved and lost so much of
their roots. They all leavcd out
promptly, but a few soon turned yell
low, and looked sick; some such l
gave o second pruning, which think
only helped to kill them. They grew,
most of them, from two TO four inches,
with few still more than that. The
loss will not be over eight per cent.
out of the whole number set, 40.
About 40 were only four or five years
from the nursery. The soil where
they grew was deep gravelly loan.
The trees made from two to three feet
of growth in 1868. The lot l put
them on is a moist, not wet, dark
loan. l mulched the new set trees
heavily with coarse strawy manure,
but think, rs the season proved so
moist and cool, they would have done
better without it as the sun would
have warmed the roots. so much, bet
ter, for it seemed to me they lacked
heat most of anything, while had it
been dry season, the mulch would
have been just the thing. I,
The actual cost per tree was 81
cents or, if board ofhands, with time
of self and team, were added, it would
be not far from 40 cents each. Iplan.
ted the field in corn; yield rather
light, as no manure was used, and
season was bad. Shall manure and
plant again this coming season with
growth Of trees mainly in view.-Cor.
Country Gentleman.