9. If the season lacks the usual rainfall, water thoroughly twice a week. 10. After-culture! Keep soil in a good degree of fertility. Mulching the trees in autumn with manure is beneficial. TEN PRINCIPLES OF PRUNING* BY JULIA E. ROGERS 1. Pruning the roots lessens the food supply, and so retards top growth. 2. Pruning the top invigorates the branches that remain, the root system being unchanged. 3. Removing terminal buds induces forking, thus thickening the branching system. It checks wood production, and encourages the production of fruit and flowers. 4. Unpruned trees tend to wood production. 5. Summer pruning reduces the struggle among leaves and twigs for light and produces stronger buds for spring. 6. Winter pruning removes superfluous buds, inducing greater health in those that are left to develop. 7. Dead wood should be taken out at any season and burned. 8. The best time to prune, generally speaking, is just before the growth starts in the spring. *From "The Tree Book," Doubleday, Page & Co. water gree with nd at 9. Early winter pruning is undesirable because the healing of wounds must wait until spring. 10. Yearly pruning is better than pruning at less frequent intervals. HOW TO PLANT A TREE* BY JULIA E. ROGERS I. Dig the hole wider and deeper than the tree requires. If the tree just fits into the socket the tips of the roots will meet a hard wall which they are too delicate to penetrate, hold fast to, or feed in. II. Be sure that the surface soil is hoarded at one side when the hole is dug. This soil is mellow and full of plant food. The under soil is harder and more barren. Some rich garden soil can well be brought over and used instead of the subsoil. III. Take up as large a root system as possible with the tree you dig. The smaller the ball of earth, the greater the loss of feeding roots and the danger of starvation to the tree. IV. Trim all torn and broken roots with a sharp knife. A ragged wound below or above the ground is slow and uncertain in healing. A clean, slanting cut heals soonest and surest. V. Set the tree on a bed of mellow soil with all its roots spread naturally. VI. Let the level be the same as before. The tree's *From "The Tree Book," Doubleday, Page & Co. roots must be planted, but not buried too deep to breathe. A stick laid across the hole at the ground level will indicate where the tree "collar" should be. VII. Sift rich earth, free from clods, among the roots. Hold the tree erect and firm; lift it a little to make sure the spaces are well filled underneath. Pack it well down with your foot. VIII. If in the growing season, pour in water and let it settle away. This establishes contact between root hairs and soil particles, and dissolves plant food for absorption. If the tree is dormant do not water it. IX. Fill the hole with dirt. Tramp in well as filling goes on. Heap it somewhat to allow for settling. If subsoil is used, put it on last. Make the tree firm in its place. X. Prune the top to a few main branches and shorten these. This applies to a sapling of a few years whose head you are able to form. Older trees should also be pruned to balance the loss of roots. Otherwise transpiration of water from the foliage would be so great as to overtax its roots, not yet established in the new place. Many trees die from this abuse. People cannot bear to cut back the handsome top, though a handsomer one is soon supplied by following this reasonable rule. XI. Water the tree frequently as it first starts. A thorough soaking of all the roots, not a mere sprinkling of the surface soil, is needed. Continu ous growth depends on moisture in the soil. Drainage will remove the surplus water. XII. Keep the surface soil free from cakes or cracks. This prevents excessive evaporation. Do not stir the soil deep enough to disturb the roots. Keep out grass and weeds. KINDS OF TREES TO PLANT ADAPTED FROM EDMUND SPENSER THE sailing Pine; the Cedar, proud and tall; And poets sage; the Fir, that weepeth still; The Birch, for shafts; the Sallow, for the mill; The warlike Beech; the Ash, for nothing ill; The fruitful Apple, and the Platane round; THE BEST TREES AND VINES BY DR. W. J. MILNE TREES best adapted for successful culture are the elm, maple, linden, ash, birch, beech, dogwood, pines, spruces, some of the willows, some of the poplars, the tulip tree, horse-chestnut, catalpa, laburnum, and oak. The shrubs which seem best adapted to ornamentation are the deutzia, hydrangea, spirea, weigela, privet, arbor vitæ, flowering cherry, flowering plum, and hawthorn. Among our best and hardiest vines are the clematis, the bitter sweet, wistaria, trumpet vine, honeysuckle, morning glory, Virginia creeper, and ampelopsis veitchii. The best plants for bedding purposes seem to be pansies, verbenas, geranium, coleuses, centaurea, and hybrid roses. Beautiful beds may be formed by planting seeds of the portulaca, pansies, verbenas, zinnias, asters, dahlias, petunias, chrysanthemums, nasturtiums, balsams, phlox, sweet William, and seeds of other well-known plants. SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT From Idaho Arbor Day Manual THE improvement and care of the school grounds by the pupils well illustrates the force of custom in creating an appreciation of the beautiful and in developing a disposition to respect public property. What is done by the organizer of the school in |