American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1873-07-05

THE various Horticultural Societies in
the West have ever been alive to the i'm
portance of tree planting. 1t has through
this means, says the Western Rural, been
kept prominently before the readers of the
various agricultural and horticultural
journals of the country, until it has be-
come to be regarded as one of the i'm
portant means of bringing our prairies
and vast treelesS plains to a more perfect
development. Mr. N. Dinner one of the
most enterprising horticulturists OF South
ern Ohio, delivered an address upon 'Hor-
ticultural Societies and Tree Planting"
before the Montgomery County Horticul-
tural Society, of which he is President,
from which we extract the following:
The plan of holding meetings of horti-
cultural societies at members houses is
becoming general; in fact, this is the only
way that societies can be well sustained,
and it is the only way they can do much
good. Most of us devote too much of our
time to money making. We seem to
think that making money is all we live
for. These social. gatherings of islands,
wives, sons and daughters, once each
month, | know have a good effect on
those that attend We meet together and
for time forget business, devote the day
to recreation, discuss topics on horticul-
tural and kindred subjects, and enjoy our
selves in conversation and otherwise. We
meet to spend one day in each month to
inform ourselves and have good time
generally. You may say, What is the use
of telling you what you know as well as
l do? That is no doubt true, but there
are others that are not of this fold; these
| want to bring in also, so that they may
enjoy themselves with us.
The subject of tree planting, shade and
forest trees, is one that is at this time at
tracing a great deal of attention 1t is evil
dent to the observing that the time is com
ing, and, too, much sooner than many
suppose, when the planting of forests will
be practiced as we now plant orchards !;
however, my object in bringing up this
subject is principally for the purpose of
encouraging the planting of shade trees in
cities and villages, and also along the high
ways.
One of the things that attracts the atten-
ton of Americans travelling in Europe is
that the roads through the country are
planted on both sides with fruit or forest
! trees, l may say, without eXaggeration, for
hundreds of miles. Those that have seen
this will require no strong argument to
convince them of the great beauty it adds
to the country where it is common.
Trees ought not to be planted outside,
but within and nearer the fences, unless the
roads arc very wide.
The planting of trees along the side
walks of the cities is pretty general, but
how painful to me it is to see them
planted, as they are-too close by half. 1t
seems as if many an individual owning a
lot of twenty five or thirty feet front, thinks
it is his duty to plant as many trees in
front of his lot as his neighbor whose lot is
one hundred or more feet front. The eff
feet of such close planting is, that your
trees being planted too close, never grow
well, and in IA few years, if they grow at
| IL
sort of neglected hedge. Then, instead of
cutting down every other tree, as should
be done, they commence to cut away at
the tops, slashing off limb after limb, with
out regard to form or the future welfare OF
the tree.
Then, again. most people when wishing
to trim the lower branches off their trees
Wien interfering with the passage of the
light of street lamps, cut them Oft, leaving
stump which usually dies and rots,
which rot frequently extends to the heart
of the tree and often is the cause of its
premature death Whenever it becomes
necessary To cut off any limb from either
fruit or shade trees, let it be large or
small, cut it off as near the trunk as is
possible; cut it off smooth; then if you
can, paint over the wound to prevent it
from cracking and keep out the rain; in
a wear or two the bark will have grown
over, lGdN my IL iluiih, WIN StdINc-
" mark to show where once there was a
limb.
When planting a tree of any kind, dig
your holes not less than three feet across,
and two feet deep, partly fill up the hole
with good soil, then put in your tree, a
little, though not much deeper than they
were in the ground when taken up; spread
out the roots with the hand and fingers,
then more dirt excepting your tree erecD
then, when you are done, press the soil
with the foot. Shade trees should be pro