Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1886-05-12
Tree Planting.

Anything worth doing, is worth do
ing well, y is a proverb which applies
forcibly in setting out forest and fruit
trees. We have frequently known per-
sons buying valuable trees, and spend
much careless work in setting out
along streets Or on the lawn, where
the dirt is compact, without any sensi-
BILE conception of what they were do
ing. 1t is poor plan to dig q small
hole in hard ground or into hard pan
but little larger than the roots OF the
tree, and put the tree in and pack the
clay about the roots. If it be wet and
rainy, the hole fills with water, which
cannot escape owing 60 the hard pan
holding water like g. dish. The roots
remain in this water probably for
weeks, until it evaporates, and then
the clay bakes as hard as adobe brick.
The tree dies, and the fault is charged
to the tree peddler. Another year
the same operation is gone over again,
until the man is discouraged, and
shade along the street or lawn is aban-
doned, leaving the home bleak and
desolate. For fruit trees the land
should be well and thoroughly pre-
pared by deep blowing and thorough
drainage. Large holes should be dug
for the trees and filled with rich loan
Of a character which will not be likely
to bake. Many persons use water free
ly IN the hole when setting trees and
stir it until it is mortar. This will
bake, and the trees, if they do not die,
will make but a feeble growth, which
is really but little better than
death. A tree which is stunted
and nearly killed by transplantiDg
never entirely RECEIVERS, and it would
be better, if the owner has learned any
lesson by his first seasons efforts, to
pull it up and set out new and thrifty
tree in the right way. He will have a
good tree sooner by this process than
by waiting for the sickly, consumptive
tree to recover from the backset it re-
celved from bad treatment at first.
Keep your wits about you in setting
either forest or fruit trees, land try to ap-
preciate the situation each of them
will thrivein. Common sense ought to
teach any man that a tree which is
necessarily severely tested in it's vitali-
ty by transplanting, ought to have
the very best quality of finely pul7er-
lied rich soil, where the water will not
stand about it's roots, bat drain off
quickly. And it should not be placed
in a bed of mortar, so that it will bake
and deprive the struggling roots of the
least chance of gaining new attach
ments in it's new location. 1t requires
really no lessons to awaken any one
to the true process needed, and the
kind and condition the soil should be
in for the thrifty growth of trees the
first year transplanted. If they get no
growth this year, dig them up and
throw them away, and begin anew,
and do it with renewed ideas of plant
life. One of the great errors in tree
planting is crowding. In planting for
timber it is necessary to crowd at first,
to make them grow tall and straight.
But ornamental trees should be given
room to grow more bushy, with full,
rounded tops. This is especially the
case on lawns. For shade and beauty
those kinds which naturally grow in
fine architectural proportions are the
most lovely as shade trees.-Iowa
State Rp0iStor