THE HANDLING OF THE PLANTS - Continued
When to transplant.
In general, it is best to set hardy plants in the fall, particularly if
the ground is fairly dry and the exposure is not too bleak. To this
class belong most of the fruit trees and ornamental trees and shrubs;
also hardy herbs, as columbines, peonies, lilies, bleeding-hearts, and
the like. They should be planted as soon as they are thoroughly mature,
so that the leaves begin to fall naturally. If any leaves remain on the
tree or bush at planting time, strip them off, unless the plant is an
evergreen. It is generally best not to cut back fall-planted trees to
the full extent desired, but to shorten them three-fourths of the
required amount in the fall, and take off the remaining fourth in the
spring, so that no dead or dry tips are left on the plant. Evergreens,
as pines and spruces, are not headed-in much, and usually not at all.
All tender and very small plants should be set in the spring, in which
case very early planting is desirable; and spring planting is always to
be advised when the ground is not thoroughly drained and well prepared.
Depth to transplant.
In well-compacted land, trees and shrubs should be set at about the same
depth as they stood in the nursery, but if the land has been deeply
trenched or if it is loose from other causes, the plants should be set
deeper, because the earth will probably settle. The hole should be
filled with fine surface earth. It is generally not advisable to place
manure in the hole, but if it is used, it should be of small amount and
very thoroughly mixed with the earth, else it will cause the soil to dry
out. In lawns and other places where surface tillage cannot be given, a
light mulch of litter or manure may be placed about the plants; but the
earth-mulch (page 98), when it can be secured, is much the best
conserver of moisture.
Making the rows straight.
[Illustration: Fig. 139. A planting board.]
In order to set trees in rows, it is necessary to use a garden line
(Fig. 96), or to mark out the ground with some of the devices already
described (Figs. 113-120); or in large areas, the place may be staked
out. In planting orchards, the area is laid out (preferably by a
surveyor) with two or more rows of stakes so placed that a man may sight
from one fixed point to another. Two or three men work to best advantage
in such planting.
[Illustration: Fig. 140. Device for placing the tree.]
There are various devices for locating the place of the stake after the
stake has been removed and the hole dug, in case the area is not
regularly staked out in such a way that sighting across the area may be
employed. One of the simplest is shown in Fig. 139. It is a narrow and
thin board with a notch in the center and a peg in either end, one of
the pegs being stationary. The implement is so placed that the notch
meets the stake, then one end of it is thrown out of the way until the
hole is dug. When the implement is brought again to its original
position, the notch mark's the place of the stake and the tree. Figure
140 is a device with a lid, in the end of which is a notch to mark the
place of the stake. This lid is thrown back, as shown by the dotted
lines, when the hole is being dug. Figure 141 shows a method of bringing
trees in row by measuring from a line.
[Illustration: Fig. 141. Lining a tree from a stake.]
Cutting-back; filling.
In the planting of any tree or bush, the roots should be cut back beyond
all breaks and serious bruises, and fine earth should be thoroughly
filled in and firmed about them, as in Fig. 142. No implement is so good
as the fingers for working the soil about the roots. If the tree has
many roots, work it up and down slightly several times during the
filling of the hole, to settle the earth in place. When the earth is
thrown in carelessly, the roots are jammed together, and often an empty
place is left beneath the crown, as in Fig. 143, which causes the roots
to dry out.
[Illustration: Fig. 142: Proper planting of a tree.]
[Illustration: Fig. 143: Careless planting of a tree.]
[Illustration: Fig. 144. Pruned young tree.]
[Illustration: Fig. 145. Pruned young tree.]
The marks on the tops of these trees in Figs. 142 and 143 show where the
branches may be cut. See also Fig. 152. Figures 144 and 145 show the
tops of trees after pruning. Strong branchy trees, as apples, pears, and
ornamental trees, are usually headed back in this way, upon planting. If
the tree has one straight leader and many or several slender branches
(Fig. 146), it is usually pruned, as in Fig. 147, each branch being cut
back to one or two buds. If there are no branches, or very few of
them,--in which case there will be good buds upon the main stem,--the
leader may be cut back a third or half its length, to a mere whip.
Ornamental bushes with long tops are usually cut back a third or a half
when set, as shown in Fig. 45.
Always leave a little of the small bud-making growth. The practice of
cutting back shade trees to mere long clubs, or poles, with no small
twigs, is to be discouraged. The tree in such case is obliged to force
out adventitious buds from the old wood, and it may not have vigor
enough to do this; and the process may be so long delayed as to allow
the tree to be overtaken by drought before it gets a start.
Removing very large trees.
[Illustration: Fig. 146: Peach tree.]
[Illustration: Fig. 147: Peach tree pruned for planting.]
Very large trees can often be moved with safety. It is essential that
the transplanting be done when the trees are perfectly dormant,--winter
being preferable,--that a large mass of earth and roots be taken with
the tree, and that the top be vigorously cut back. Large trees are often
moved in winter on a stone-boat, by securing a large ball of earth
frozen about the roots. This frozen ball is secured by digging about
the tree for several days in succession, so that the freezing progresses
with the excavation. A good device for moving such trees is shown in
Fig. 148. The trunk of the tree is securely wrapped with burlaps or
other soft material, and a ring or chain is then secured about it. A
long pole, b, is run over the truck of a wagon and the end of it is
secured to the chain or ring upon the tree. This pole is a lever for
raising the tree out of the ground. A team is hitched at a, and a man
holds the pole b.
Other and more elaborate devices are in use, but this explains the idea
and is therefore sufficient for the present purpose; for when a person
desires to remove a very large tree he should secure the services of
an expert.
[Illustration: Fig. 148: Moving a large tree.]
[Illustration: Fig. 149. The tree ready to lift.]
The following more explicit directions for moving large trees are by
Edward Hicks, who has had much experience in the business, and who made
this report to the press a few years ago: "In moving large trees, say
those ten to twelve inches in diameter and twenty-five to thirty feet
high, it is well to prepare them by trimming and cutting or sawing off
the roots at a proper distance from the trunks, say six to eight feet,
in June. The cut roots heal over and send out fibrous roots, which
should not be injured more than is necessary in moving the trees next
fall or spring. Young, thrifty maples and elms, originally from the
nursery, do not need such preparation nearly as much as other and older
trees. In moving a tree, we begin by digging a wide trench six to eight
feet from it, leaving all possible roots fast to it. By digging under
the tree in the wide trench, and working the soil out of the roots by
means of round or dull-pointed sticks, the soil falls into the cavity
made under the tree. Three or four men in as many hours could get so
much of the soil away from the roots that it would be safe to attach a
rope and tackle to the upper part of the trunk and to some adjoining
post or tree for the purpose of pulling the tree over. A good quantity
of bagging must be put around the tree under the rope to prevent injury,
and care should be taken that the pulling of the rope does not split off
or break a limb. A team is hitched to the end of the draft rope, and
slowly driven in the proper direction to pull the tree over. If the tree
does not readily tip over, dig under and cut off any fast root. While it
is tipped over, work out more of the soil with the sticks. Now pass a
large rope, double, around a few large roots close to the tree, leaving
the ends of the rope turned up by the trunk to be used in lifting the
tree at the proper time. Tip the tree in the opposite direction and put
another large rope around the large roots close to the trunk; remove
more soil and see that no roots are fast to the ground. Four guy-ropes
attached to the upper parts of the tree, as shown in the cut (Fig. 149),
should be put on properly and used to prevent the tree from tipping over
too far as well as to keep it upright. A good deal of the soil can be
put back in the hole without covering the roots to get it out of the way
of the machine. The latter can now be placed about the tree by removing
the front part, fastened by four bolts, placing the frame with the hind
wheels around the tree and replacing the front parts. Two timbers,
three-by-nine inches, and twenty feet long, are now placed on the ground
under the hind wheels, and in front of them, parallel to each other for
the purpose of keeping the hind wheels up out of the big hole when
drawing the tree away; and they are also used while backing the hind
wheels across the new hole in which the tree is to be planted. The
machine (Figs. 149, 150) consists of a hind axle twelve feet long, and
broad-tired wheels.
The frame is made of spruce three-by-eight inches
and twenty feet long. The braces are three-by-five inches and ten feet
long, and upright three-by-nine inches and three feet high; these are
bolted to the hind axle and main frame. The front axle has a set of
blocks bolted together and of sufficient height to support the front end
of the frame. Into the top timbers, three-by-six inches, hollows are cut
at the proper distances to receive the ends of two locust rollers. A
windlass or winch is put at each end of the frame, by which trees can
easily and steadily be lifted and lowered, the large double ropes
passing over the rollers to the windlasses. A locust boom is put across
the machine under the frame and above the braces; iron pins hold it in
place. The side guy-ropes are made fast to the ends of this boom. The
other guy-ropes are made fast to the front and rear parts of the
machine. Four rope loops are made fast inside of the frame, and are so
placed that by passing a rope around the trunk of the tree and through
the loops two or three times, a rope ring is made around the tree that
will keep the trunk in the middle of the frame and not allow it to hit
either the edges or the rollers--a very necessary safeguard. As the tree
is slowly lifted by the windlasses, the guy-ropes are loosened, as
needed. The tree will pass obstructions, such as trees by the roadside,
but in doing so it is better to lean the tree backward. When the tree
has arrived at its new place, the two timbers are placed along the
opposite edges of the hole so that the hind wheels can be backed over
it. The tree is then lowered to the proper depth, and made plumb by the
guy-ropes, and good, mellow soil is thrown in and packed well into all
the cavities under the roots. When the hole is half filled, several
barrels of water should be poured in; this will wash the soil into the
cavities under the center of the tree much better. When the water has
settled away, fill in and pack the soil till the hole is little more
than full. Leave a depression, so that all the rain that may fall will
be retained. The tree should now be judiciously trimmed and the machine
removed. Five men can take up, move, and plant a tree in a day, if the
distance is short and the digging not too hard. The tree should be
properly wired to stakes to prevent the wind from blowing it over. The
front part of the machine is a part of our platform spring market-wagon,
while the hind wheels are from a wood-axle wagon. A tree ten inches in
diameter, with some dirt adhering to its roots, will weigh a ton
or more."
[Illustration: 150. The tree ready to move.]
|