All American gardeners agree, we think, in placing November and December (if open) at the head of all other months for the planting of deciduous ornamental trees. To be sure, small trees and shrubs will do well planted in the spring, especially if the season proves not too dry, and proper care is taken to mulch the ground, and thus prevent the direct rays of the sun from absorbing the moisture immediately about the roots.

The conditions necessary to be observed may be noted in the following order: 1. Never remove a tree from a good soil and place it in a poorer one; and in order to prevent this, the hole in which the tree is to be set, must be dug much larger than the tree, and then the extra space, up to a proper depth, filled with rich soil, or with [202] manure mixed with the lower and most distant parts of the soil in the hole. 2. Do not put the manure in contact with the roots, nor set your tree too deep, for these two errors have caused more failures than all others. The deeper and wider you make the holes the better, even to four feet deep, and that much wider than the roots, filling the extra space with rich dirt, well packed down, in order to prevent the tree from settling when the rains come.

In transplanting large trees, above three inches in diameter, a preparation must be made before freezing weather comes on in the fall. This consists in digging and preparing the hole to receive the tree, as before, after putting in some extra dirt, which is to be removed before dropping the tree into the hole, and used in filling any extra space about the roots. Also dig a trench around the tree as deep as its main roots run, leaving a large ball of dirt attached to the loots. Shave the dirt down on top until the roots appear, to lessen the weight. Both the trench and the receiving hole should be filled with straw, leaves, or coarse manure, to prevent the ball of roots and the extra filling dirt from freezing down on the bottom.