in line, the trees will be also, if they are
kept perpendicular while the earth is being filled in. The
earth should be packed about the roots by hand, the tree being
set no deeper than it stood in the nursery.

To start the trees off well, one pound to one pound and a half
of a good fertilizer, analyzing about six per cent. potash,
five per cent. phosphoric acid and four per cent. nitrogen,
should be thoroughly mixed with the earth that is used in
filling in the hole. Preferably, only surface soil should be
used to place about the roots.

When the hole is filled in about three-fourths, water may be
applied to advantage, particularly if the weather is dry. A
good application should be given after the work is completed,
so as to establish the capillary movement of the water in the
soil.

The greatest care should be taken to prevent the roots from
becoming dry, if they do, the chances of their living, after
planting, are very greatly reduced.

From the time the trees are lifted from the nursery row until
they are set in the orchard, the sun should never be allowed to
shine on them. Neither should they be exposed to hot or drying
winds. Should it happen that the trees are received before
everything is ready for planting them, they should be unpacked
and healed in, in a shady place.

The roots of the trees must be pruned before planting, but this
should be done under a shed. All broken parts of roots should
be carefully cut off, leaving good, smooth surfaces, and the
taproot cut or pruned back, as described in the chapter on
pruning. When the pruning is finished, _the trees should be
wrapped in a damp blanket or in damp sacks and taken to the
field_. When needed for planting, they should be removed one by
one and set out.

CHAPTER XI.

CULTIVATION AND FERTILIZATION.

Too many of our ideas of fruit culture are borrowed from the woods, from
the trees in the pasture lands and uncultivated places generally. As the
pecan is a forest tree in many sections of the country, the inference
is, that it needs no cultivation, no fertilizer, in short, is amply able
to take care of itself. So it is, but not able to yield, at the same
time, the large crops of nuts that are the object of its being planted.

From the woods, there is one lesson which it would be well for