Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1909-04-16
Horticultural Notes

On the Atlantic and Pacific coasts
where they have plenty Of rain ant
Il q moist. warm climate in, the spring
most anyone can successfully plan
trees and bushes. Not SO In Nortl
4 Dakota. Even the experienced horti
curalist often fails to succeed. In ou1
dry, cold soil and atmosphere he hat
two opposite destructive conditions tt
| overcome. These conditions interlact
each other. II planted in the ordinary
way it is practically impossible to be
successful, excepting in very favor
able circumstances.
In the early days of North Dakota
the nurserymen instructed their pat.
rons to plant trees on the level and
at the depth they stood in the nur'
sery. Time passed and one after an
other of the settlers tree claims
groves, shelter belts, fruit gardens
shade trees and shrubbery disappear
! ed from around the bleak homes. The
nurseryman would have gone bank
rupt and the farmer gone hungry fol
the want of returns from his invest
ment Of time and labor If the nursery
men had continued to replace as he
had promised.
Such shallow planting needed con.
slant rains to keep the soil moist
about the roots so cur dry air could
not penetrate to the roots at the base
of the tree and extract the moisture
before it reached the protected bark
of the body of, TIE tree. -.
| The roots of tree are as tender
as a potato when exposed to the sud
den freezing and thawing. The ground
about the tree being dry during the
fall and winter allowed the cold and
warm air to penetrate and suddenly
| freeze and thaw the roots, thus caus'
| ing death. 81. =.
| This is one of the causes of winter
killing not generally known From
| costly experience in later years the
nurserymen recommended deep plant
ing, even as deep as "a inches. AT
| that depth the roots would be pro,
tected from drying up and from the
sudden. freezing and thaw1ng. This
plan resulted as disastrously as the
first. Why did the trees fail to grow
under the deep planting? The ground
| is cold at such a depth and the roots
sour and rot. The soil must be moist
and warm around the roots to start
| the tree growing rootlets to take up
| the moisture and plant food.
There might be moisture enough
soak in the root stubs at that depth
to sustain a few leaves for a short
time or even for a whole season, but
the tree will surely die If 1t does not
establish a root system and it cannot
il the roots are buried very deep In
the cold soil. The roots Of a tree In
North Dakota should never be buried
very deep beneath the surface or the
earth. II at any time during the ire
even of a giant tree the roots are
buried very deep the tree Will slcken
and die unless it can throw out roofs
from the stem near the surface.
Never pillow the dirt against the
body of the tree as most people DO
to cover the weeds, resulting In the
fruitlessness and death Of the tree:
The farmer should be shy Of the
tree agent who will not give him q
contract bv which he is to furnish
hardy trees with no security further
than the removal OF the trees at a
specffied time If not paid for. with
not one cent due until the trees and
other stun have made two seasons
successful growth. The nurseryman
would have the very best security as
the farmer values the trees about
his home above everything else:
In 1881 received some cultivated
fruit trees from New York state and
planted them here on the level In the
ordinary way. They dried up and
froze out. During the spring OF 1883
T visited nv old home in Albany, New
York, From my little home nursery
7 secured a variety Of our finest cul-
tivated fruit trees and bushes ana
brought them back with me to North
Dakota for experimental purposes.
Profiting by my first experience l
noticed that in the deep gulches and
ravines trees and bushes grew fine
EVEN the high, dry hills in the deeply
worn buffalo trails and wallows trees
and bushes were growing success1ul-
" without cultivation. This gave: me
the key to success. I decided that by
blowing open a deep ditch, the deeper
the better, and planting my young
plant in it I would succeed.
p1owed open bitches about four
feet deep and forty feet apart and
put nv plants In them. olo no'
cover the roots any deeper than they
had been covered in the nursery.
These bitches were never allowed
to be flied. The soil about the roots
warmed under cultivation SO the trees
could send out fibre roots and grow.
Moisture from rains and SHOWS set
tied in the bitches about the roots,
thus keeping the air from entering
and drying up the roots. The ground
froze and remained frozen until the
spring, then thawed slowly and pre-
vented the sudden changes that are SO
certain to destroy the trees. Among
these fruits, peaches. pears, ounces
grapes and raspberries were grown
with great success.
II A palpablo HE.