The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1889-06-14
FALL TREE PLANTING.
1T is SAFEST IN sT4TEs SOUTH OF
VEL YORK.

In That state and Farther North IL
win be Rest to Plant in the Spring.
General Fail Work Among the Trees.
Thinning and Pruning Important.
study of The Plantations.
All planting north of the latitude OF MS
city, says the New York Garden and Forest,
is most safely done in the spring. Further
south the long autumn enables trees, planted
when the leaves are ripe, to push out ne"
roots and establish themselves before the
ground freezes. But where cold weather 1ol-
lows close after the early frosts a Tree
planted in the autumn has no opportunity
TO deyelop new roots. and therefore loses not
only the advantage it would have obtained In
a more temperate innate in an early n
vigorous spring growth, but it is forced to
endure the severity OF he winter without
the aid of roots in active working condition.
Trees planted in the autumn do not always
die in the northern states but they are more
apt to suffer than those planted in the spring;
they are often down over unless carefully
supported; and they are frequently heaved
by the frost or thrown out OF the ground en-
tirely. But for all the operations connected
with the planting and the care OF trees, ex-
cept the mere setting them in the ground,
the autumn is the right time. All planting
| plans should be completed, and all stock Sc
| leeted, at this season, and the ground to De
planted should be prepared and ready to re-
eeiye the trees. Our springs are SO short and
the rush of spring work is always so press
ing that it is impossible to properly prepare
the ground for planting unless it is lone DUR
ing the summer and autumn. This IS the
time. therefore. when northern planters
should decide what trees they want to plant
next spring, and just where they will plant
them. II is the time to select and order
nursery stock and if the planter has any Ia
c%ilities for protecting plants through the
winter in q cold cellar or pit this is the time
to obtain them from the nursery, rather than
in the spring, when nurserymen are crowded
with orders, and too busy to devote proper
time and attention to digging and packing
their trees. Tho ground being prepared, the
exact position OF each plant determined on
and the plants on hand, the mere setting
them in the ground is the work of a short
time. The man, moreover, who fs.thus pre-
ra1ed beforehand for spring planting can
take advantage of the first suitable weather,
and get his plants into the ground as soon
as the frost is out and it is dry enough to
work while if he waits for material ordered
in the spring, very often it will not be re-
ceiyed until after the trees have started to
grow, and warm, dry weather has set in. In
a climate like that of our northern states,
where summer follows hard after winter, and
where spring is almost unknown. there is no
other operation of the farm or of the garden
which demands more carefully planned pre-
paration-more forehandedness-than tree
plnnting.
The autumn, too, after the leaves have be-
gun to fall from the trees, is the best time
to study plantations with the view OF deter
mining which trees should be removed. and
which of those which are to remain need
pruning. The actual condition OF a tree-its
health and shape, and its relation to its
neighbors-is best determined after the
leaves, or many of them, have fallen; and if
trees are TO be marked for the axe, it should
be done now, and before really cold weather
or snow makes the critical examination of
each individual tree practically impossible.
Autumn, too. as has been explained in a re-
cent issue of this journal, is the best timo
for all pruning operations intended to reiu-
venate old trees or to bring unsightly ones
into shape.
The man, therefore, who has trees, should
devote som portion Of these autumn days to
determining how he can improve them by
thinning or by pruning, or, if he is planter,
in deciding where his next springs pianta-
tions are to bemade, and what they are to
be made Of.