The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1891-12-19

Practical Instruction ON setting Treas
one-Eyod Potato seed.-Get nn
Easily start--Farm and
Home Hats.

shade timber or protection. leads me
10 advise the planting OF young. small
trees and that they be carefully Guilt
waited for from one 10 four years or
until they get thrifty start The
sooner a young tree is established and
rooted where IL Is 10 grow the better.
j have grown and planted several
thousand locust and soft maple trees
and would not take as gift a tree
that had stood In the nursery row un-
I'll two years old. l have also had
considerable experience In transplant
ing volunteer seedlings from the
woods. and have found that trees two
or three inches in diameter and ten or
twelve feet high. are usually SO stunt
ed by transplanting as 10 require sew
eral years TO regain their thrift while
n Seeding three feet high. which can
be lifted out OF tho soil without break
ing It's roots. is scarcely checked at
all in its growth.
10 pays to set forest trees considera-
bly, thicker than we want them to grow.
for this induces straight upward
growth. with long trunk; and with
some varieties. l know that when
planted in this way no trimming Is re-
quired. for the side branches die and
drop of, leaving a much smoother
trunk than ii the branches had been
cut of. When / first b. gan planting
locust trees by the acre | spent good
deal OF time and labor in trimming
but afterwards found that the labor
was worse than wasted Another ad-
vantage OF c,ose planting is. that in
thinning out your trees you can cut all
that are ill-shaped or imperfect and
still have enough left so that there
will be no openings or vacancies
have planted several acres of black To-
Gust and soft (white) maple, and on the
first acre / SGT the trees four feet
apart each way my intention being.
Us they grew, TO take out iirst every
other row. and later. every other tree
from the remaining rows. When /
began thinning, ! soon found that the
one tree OF the four which must be
left was often worthless and so In my
later paintings | have put the rows
eight feet apart and set the trees
three or four feet apart in the row;
and then in thinning we leave the
best trees and rarely have too long
vacancy. | can now cut trees from
locust grove eleven years planted.
large enough TO make two posts at the
butt and one above and my first
planting OF white maple, made of one
year old Seeding trees in 1868. now
has trees two feet in diameter
What | most regret is that / did not
plant an acre or two Of sugar naples.
Such grove is highly ornamental.
and for this alone would add 10 the
value OF any farm aud in twenty years
or less the trees will be large enough
to tap. 1t would be easy so TO locate
them rs To get the benefit Of II wind
break, and they would furnish u CRATE
full shade 10 stock in summer. The
young seedlings abound in the wood
lots near and one could in day or
two collect enough TO plant an acre.
A closely planted row OF them along
the north and west sides of field or
farm. would afford protection from
summer storms which would otherwise
lodge corn or wheat. and also from
winter blasts which often kill out the
wheat
The young trees should be gathered
from the woods In tho fall. tied in
small bundles, 80 TO 100 in bundle
and set In the ground six or eight
inches deeper than they grow in some
we'll drained. sheltered spot and then
protected with leaves. When spring
opens, as soon us the land will work
well. pillow and harrow until IL is in
nice order. then with n two horse pillow
make n deep furrow, passing along
two or moro times II necessary. What
you want is TO get the furrow deep and
wide enough so that no digging will
be necessary 10 set the trees, but the
roots can be put in tho furrow and the
loose earth drawn 10 them ana press
ed down and the trees are ready TO
grow. The most rapid way 10 set
these small seedlings is for n boy to
hold the tree upright with the roots i'm
the furrow. and two men, one with
light shovel and the other hoe. TO put
the earth 20 the roots Before the last
OF the earth is placed around the tree.
II should be firmly pressed down with
the feet and then loose earth placed
above. Two men and boy can set
out an acre OF trees in n day in this
way.
When planting single row for
wind break, | should set thom but ten
feet apart IL is true that you cannot
grow grain near them after they at-
tain much growth. but ! believe II TO
be also true that you can grow enough
more on the remainder OF tho field TO
make good the loss and all that the
trees are worth will be clear gain
Undoubtedly for climatic reasons
there should be nc once n systematic
planting OF trees begun. and ms we
have no department OF forestry here
rs they have in Europe. the best
way 10 call attention to the matter
seems to be through tho agricultural
press. 10 looks like n great undertake
ing 10 attempt 20 start new forest
but whom we undertake IL intellig mt
~ tho difficulties soon vanish. am
glad 20 be able 20 report that the
''borer" which five years ago APP
pearel in such numbers MS TO bid fair
10 destroy our locust plantations. dis
appeared ter about two years; and
my last planting now four years old
seems 20 be entirely free from them.
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