Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-10-27
Planting Trees in the Fall.

1 had my attention aroused last fall
by the unusual trade in fruit trees. It
was more general than in any previous
fall within my recollection, and much
more, even, than last spring. 1t is but
a few years since nurserymen induced
farmers to purchase stock for fall set
ting, but the practice now seems ohave
grown in favor with farmers generally.
They only needed to ascertain that the
fall is really the most convenientseason
for such work, in order to attend to it at
that season. The trouble with spring
farmer can not we'll spare the time to
attend to them. Perhaps there is a job
or hand which must be finished before
anything else can be attended to; the
weather is warm, with drying winds.
and every hour that the trees are out of
the ground they suffer. Another con-
sideration is that these trees set out in
the spring were dug up in the fall, and
would have been much safer if they had
been set out at the same season. When
the trees are set in the fall, the soil set
ties and fills the interstices around the
roots, and the soil in the immediate vi
entity of the trees becomes less suscep-
tible to the effects of drought.
Again, the farmer has more time to
do this job, in the way it should be
done, in the fall. Too much care can
not be expended in procuring and set
ting trees. Opinions in regard to varie-
ties may differ, but when it comes to
caring for the trees, there is only one
way to do it. Too many farme s are
quite apt to forget that a tree has a life
and a constitutions; that carelessness
may destroy the one and impair the
other. l think that nurserymen should
be very particular in the men they m
.ploy to take up trees. l have seen SO
many trees in ured in this respect, that
l think it requires as much care to take
up a tree as it does to set it out again.
Strength is not the best recommends
ton Of a man for taking up trees; neith-
e: is a faculty for handling q spade the
principal accomplishment of a man en-
ployed to set out ire g. Perhaps in no
other lob on the farm does skill pay
as we'll, inasmuch as unskilled labor
will work so great a loss. It requires
two men to set out trees to any advan-
tage, and three are better than two. 1t
is better to have the holes dug, and a
bushel of good muck left at each hole,
before commencing to set out trees.
Right here l most earnestly deprecate
the post-hole style of digging holes for
apple trees. A job that is worth doing
at all, is worth doing well, and the
roots of growing trees should have
plenty Of room. The hole should be
dug both deeper and wider than is re-
quired, in order that a quantity of muck
may be put in the bottom, and it should
be dug wider on general principles. In
setting out trees, when l come upon
one which has been mutilated in taking
up, l pNfer throwingit aside and losing
it at once, rather than await the d nbt-
full result of setting it out. In sett ng
out trees avoid placing any OF the roots
in a constrained position. The roots
should be placed naturally and the fine
earth pressed firmly around them. With
care, no one should lose one tree in one
hundred. providing the trees were all
right when delivered. Taking all
thinos into consideration, l W" Id much
rather set trees in the fall than in the
spring.-F. &. Moreland, in Country
4ealIman.