There is a knack in the successful handling of plants that it is impossible to describe in print. All persons can improve their practice through diligent reading of useful gardening literature, but no amount of reading and advice will make a good gardener of a person who does not love to dig in a garden or who does not have a care for plants just because they are plants.
To grow a plant well, one must learn its natural habits. Some persons learn this as if by intuition, acquiring the knowledge from close discrimination of the behavior of the plant. Often they are themselves unconscious of this knack of knowing what will make the plant to thrive; but it is not at all necessary to have such an intuitive judgment to enable one to be even more than a fairly good gardener. Diligent attention to the plant’s habits and requirements, and a real regard for the plant’s welfare, will make any person a successful plant-grower.
Some of the things that a person should know about any plant he would grow are these:—
Having suited the situation to the plant, and having prepared the ground well and made a resolution to keep it well, special attention must be given to such matters as these:—
Prepare the surface earth well, to make a good seed-bed. Plant when the ground is moist, if possible, and preferably just before a rain if the soil is of such character that it will not bake. For shallow-planted seeds, firm the earth above them by walking over the row or by patting it down with a hoe. Special care should be exercised not to sow very small and slow-germinating seeds, as celery, carrot, onion, in poorly prepared soil or in ground that bakes. With such seeds it is well to sow seeds of radish or turnip, for these germinate quickly and break the crust, and also mark the row so that tillage may be begun before the regular-crop seeds are up.
Land may be prevented from baking over the seeds by scattering a very thin layer of fine litter, as chaff, or of sifted moss or mold, over the row. A board is sometimes laid on the row to retain the moisture, but it must be lifted gradually just as soon as the plants begin to break the ground, or the plants will be greatly injured. Whenever practicable, seed-beds of celery and other slow-germinating seeds should be shaded. If the beds are watered, be careful that the soil is not packed by the force of the water or baked by the sun. In thickly sown seed-beds, thin or transplant the plants as soon as they have made their first true leaves.
For most home-grounds, seeds may be sown by hand, but for large areas of one crop, one of the many kinds of seed-sowers may be used. The particular methods of sowing seeds are usually specified in the seed catalogues, if other than ordinary treatment is required. The sled-markers (already described, p. 108) open a furrow of sufficient depth for the planting of most seeds. If marker furrows are not available, a furrow may be opened with a hoe for such deep-planted seeds as peas and sweet peas, or by a trowel or end of a rakestale for smaller seeds. In narrow beds or boxes, a stick or ruler (Fig. 115) may be used for opening creases to receive the seeds.
The depth at which seeds are to be planted varies with the kind, the soil and its preparation, the season, and whether they are planted in the open or in the house. In boxes and under glass, it is a good rule that the seed be sown at a depth equal to twice its own diameter, but deeper sowing is usually necessary out of doors, particularly in hot and dry weather. Strong and hardy seeds, as peas, sweet peas, large fruit-tree seeds, may be planted three to six inches deep. Tender seeds, that are injured by cold and wet, may be planted after the ground is settled and warm at a greater depth than before that season. As a rule, nothing is gained by sowing tender seeds before the weather is thoroughly settled and the ground warm.
Many common plants are propagated by cuttings rather than by seeds, particularly when it is desired to increase a particular variety.
Cuttings are parts of plants inserted in soil or water with the intention that they shall grow and make new plants. They are of various kinds. They may be classified, with reference to the age of the wood or tissue, into two classes; viz. those made from perfectly hard or dormant wood (taken from the winter twigs of trees and bushes), and those made from more or less immature or growing wood. They may be classified again in respect to the part of the plants from which they are taken, as root-cuttings, tuber-cuttings (as the ordinary “seed” planted for potatoes), stem-cuttings, and leaf-cuttings.
[Illustration: Fig. 122. The planting of the dormant-wood cuttings.]
Dormant-wood cuttings are used for grapes (Fig. 122), currants, gooseberries, willows, poplars, and many other kinds of soft-wooded trees and shrubs. Such cuttings are ordinarily taken in fall or winter, but cut into the proper lengths and then buried in sand or moss where they do not freeze, in order that the lower end may heal over or callous. In the spring these cuttings are set in the ground, preferably in a rather sandy and well-drained place.
[Illustration: Fig. 123. Carnation cutting.]
Usually, hardwood cuttings are made with two to four joints or buds, and when they are planted, only the upper bud projects above the ground. They may be planted erect, as Fig. 122 shows, or somewhat slanting. In order that the cutting may reach down to moist earth, it is desirable that it should not be less than 6 in. long; and it is sometimes better if it is 8 to 12 in. If the wood is short-jointed, there may be several buds on a cutting of this length; and in order to prevent too many shoots from arising from these buds the lowermost buds are often cut out. Roots will start as readily if the lower buds are removed, since the buds grow into shoots and not into roots.
Cuttings of currants, grapes, gooseberries, and the like may be set in rows that are far enough apart to admit of easy tillage either with horse or hand tools, and the cuttings may be placed 3 to 8 in. apart in the row. The English varieties of gooseberries, considerably grown in this country, do not propagate readily from cuttings.
After the cuttings have grown one season, the plants are usually transplanted and given more room for the second year’s growth, after which time they are ready to be set in permanent plantations. In some cases, the plants are set at the end of the first year; but two-year plants are stronger and usually preferable.
Root-cuttings are used for blackberries, raspberries, and a few other things. They are ordinarily made of roots from the size of a lead pencil to one’s little finger, and are cut in lengths from 3 to 5 in. long. The cuttings are stored the same as stem-cuttings and allowed to callous. In the spring they are planted in a horizontal or nearly horizontal position in moist sandy soil, being entirely covered to a depth of 1 or 2 in.
[Illustration: Fig. 124. Verbena cutting.]
Softwood or greenwood cuttings are usually made of wood that is mature enough to break when it is bent sharply. When the wood is so soft that it will bend and not break, it is too immature, in the majority of plants, for the making of good cuttings.
[Illustration: Fig. 125. Leaf-cutting.]
One to two joints is the proper length of a greenwood cutting. If of two joints, the lower leaves should be cut off and the upper leaves cut in two so that they do not present their entire surface to the air and thereby evaporate the plant juices too rapidly. If the cutting is of only one joint, the lower end is usually cut just above a joint. In either case, the cuttings are usually inserted in sand or well-washed gravel, nearly or quite up to the leaves. Keep the bed uniformly moist throughout its depth, but avoid any soil which holds so much moisture that it becomes muddy and sour. These cuttings should be shaded until they begin to emit their roots. Coleus, geraniums, fuchsias, carnations, and nearly all the common greenhouse and house plants, are propagated by these cuttings or slips (Figs. 123, 124).
Leaf-cuttings are often used for the fancy-leaved begonias, gloxinias, and a few other plants. The young plant usually arises most readily from the leaf-stalk or petiole. The leaf, therefore, is inserted into the ground much as a green cutting is. Begonia leaves will throw out young plants from the main ribs when these veins or ribs are cut. Therefore, well-grown and firm begonia leaves are sometimes laid flat on the sand and the main veins cut; then the leaf is weighted down with pebbles or pegs so that these cut surfaces come into intimate contact with the soil beneath. The usual way, however, is to cut a triangular piece of the leaf (Fig. 125) and insert the tip in sand. So long as the cutting is alive, do not be discouraged, even if it do not start.
VIII. A well-planted entrance. Common trees and bushes, with Boston ivy on the post, and Berberis Thunbergii in front.
General treatment of cuttings.
In the growing of all greenwood and leaf-cuttings, it is well to remember that they should have a gentle bottom heat; the soil should be such that it will hold moisture and yet not remain wet; the air about the tops should not become close and stagnant, else the plants will damp off; and the tops should be shaded for a time. In order to control all the conditions, such cuttings are grown under cover, as in a greenhouse, coldframe, or a box in the residence window.
[Illustration: Fig. 126. Cuttings inserted in a double pot.]
An excellent method of starting cuttings in the living room is to make a double pot, as shown in Fig. 126. Inside a 6-in. pot set a 4-in. pot. Fill the bottom, a, with gravel or bits of brick, for drainage. Plug the hole in the inside pot. Fill the spaces between, c, with earth, and in this set the cuttings. Water may be poured into the inner pot, b, to supply the moisture.
Transplanting young seedlings.
[Illustration: Fig. 127. To check evaporation at transplanting.]
In the transplanting of cabbages, tomatoes, flowers, and all plants recently started from seeds, it is important that the ground be thoroughly fined and compacted. Plants usually live better if transplanted into ground that has been freshly turned. If possible, transplant in cloudy or rainy weather, particularly if late in the season. Firm the earth snugly about the roots with the hands or feet, in order to bring up the soil moisture; but it is generally best to rake the surface in order to reëstablish the earth-mulch, unless the plants are so small that their roots cannot reach through the mulch (p. 98).
If the plants are taken from pots, water the pots some time in advance, and the ball of earth will fall out when the pot is inverted and tapped lightly. In taking up plants from the ground, it is advisable, also, to water them well some time before removing; the earth may then be held on the roots. See that the watering is done far enough in advance to allow the water to settle away and distribute itself; the earth should not be muddy when the plants are removed.
[Illustration: Fig. 128. Plants sheared and not sheared when transplanted.]
In order to reduce the evaporation from the plant, shingles may be stuck into the ground to shade the plant; or a screen may be improvised with pieces of paper (Fig. 122), tin cans, inverted flower-pots, coverings of brush, or other means.
[Illustration: Fig. 129. Where to shear the tops of young plants.]
It is nearly always advisable to remove some of the foliage, particularly if the plant has several leaves and if it has not been grown in a pot, and also if the transplanting is done in warm weather. Figure 128 shows a good treatment for transplanted plants. With the foliage all left on, the plants are likely to behave as in the upper row; but with most of it cut off, as in the lower row, there is little wilting, and new leaves soon start. Figure 129 also shows what part of the leaves may be cut off on transplanting. If the ground is freshly turned and the transplanting is well done, it rarely will be necessary to water the plants; but if watering is necessary, it should be done at nightfall, and the surface should be loosened the next morning or as soon as it becomes dry.
[Illustration: Fig. 130. Trowel dibber.] [Illustration: Fig. 131. The dibber.] [Illustration: Fig. 132. Home-made padded dibber.]
[Illustration: Fig. 133. Dibber and crow-bar combined.]
In the transplanting of young plants, some kind of a dibber should be used to make the holes. Dibbers make holes without removing any of the earth. A good form of dibber is shown in Fig. 130, which is like a flat or plane trowel. Many persons prefer a cylindrical and conical dibber, like that shown in Fig. 131. For hard soils and larger plants, a strong dibber may be made from a limb that has a right-angled branch to serve as a handle. This handle may be softened by slipping a piece of rubber hose on it (Fig. 132). A long iron dibber, which may also be used as a crow-bar, is shown in Fig. 133. In transplanting with the dibber, a hole is first made by a thrust of the tool, and the earth is then pressed against the root by means of the foot, hand, or the dibber itself (as in Fig. 131). The hole is not filled by putting in dirt at the top.
[Illustration: Fig. 134. Strawberry planter.]
For large plants, a broader dibber may be used. An implement like that shown in Fig. 134 is useful for setting strawberries and other plants with large roots. It is made of two-inch plank, with a block on top to act as foot-rest and to prevent the blade from going too deep. In order to provide space for the foot and easily to direct the thrust, the handle may be placed at one side of the middle. For plunging pots, a dibber like that shown in Fig. 135 is useful, particularly when the soil is so hard that a long-pointed tool is necessary. The bottom of the hole may be filled with earth before the pot is inserted; but it is often advisable to leave the vacant space below (as in b) to provide drainage, to keep the plant from rooting, and to prevent earth-worms from entering the hole in the bottom of the pot. For smaller pots, the tool may be inserted a less depth (as at c).
[Illustration: Fig. 135. The plunging of pots.]
Transplanting established plants and trees.
[Illustration: Fig. 136. Setting large tub-plants in the lawn.]
In setting potted plants out of doors, it is nearly always advisable to plunge them,—that is to set the pots into the earth,—unless the place is very wet. The pots are then watered by the rainfall, and demand little care. If the plants are to be returned to the house in the fall, they should not be allowed to root through the hole in the pot, and the rooting may be prevented by turning the pot around every few days. Large decorative plants may be made to look as if growing naturally in the lawn by sinking the pot or box just below the surface and rolling the sod over it, as suggested in Fig. 136. A space around and below the tub may be provided to insure drainage.
[Illustration: Fig. 137. Plant-box with a movable side.]
For the shifting of very large tub-plants, a box or tub with movable sides, as in Fig. 137, is handy and efficient. The plant-box recommended to parties who grew plants for exhibition at the World’s Fair is shown in Fig. 138. It is made of strong boards or planks. At A is shown the inside of one of two opposite sections or sides, four feet wide at top, three feet wide at bottom, and three feet high. The cleats are two-by-four scantlings, through which holes are bored to admit the bolts with which the box is to be held together. B is an outside view of one of the alternating sections, three feet four inches wide at top, two feet four inches at bottom, and three feet deep. A one-by-six strip is nailed through the center to give strength. C is an end view of A, showing the bolts and also a two-by-four cleat to which the bottom is to be nailed. This box was used mostly for transporting large growing stock to the exposition, the stock having been dug from the open and the box secured around the ball of earth.
[Illustration: Fig. 138. Box for transporting large transplanted stock.]
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.
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.
[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.]
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.
[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.]
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: Fig. 149. The tree ready to lift.]
[Illustration: 150. The tree ready to move.]
[Illustration: Fig. 151. Trees heeled-in for winter.]
If the ground is not ready for planting in the fall, or if it is desired for any reason to delay until spring, the trees or bushes may be heeled-in, as illustrated in Fig. 151. The roots are laid in a furrow or trench, and are covered with well-firmed earth. Straw or manure may be thrown over the earth still further to protect the roots, but if it is thrown over the tops, mice may be attracted by it and the trees be girdled. Tender trees or bushes may be lightly covered to the tips with earth. Plants should be heeled-in only in loose, warm, loamy or sandy ground and in a well-drained place.
[Illustration: Fig. 152. Tree earthed up for winter.]
Fall-planted trees should generally be mounded up, sometimes even as high as shown in Fig. 152. This hilling holds the plant in position, carries off the water, prevents too deep freezing, and holds the earth from heaving. The mound is taken away in the spring. It is sometimes advisable to mound-up established trees in the fall, but on well-drained land the practice is usually not necessary. In hilling trees, pains should be taken not to leave deep holes, from which the earth was dug, close to the tree, for water collects in them. Roses and many other bushes may be mounded in the fall with profit.
It is always advisable to mulch plants that are set in the fall. Any loose and dry material—as straw, manure, leaves, leafmold, litter from yards and stables, pine boughs—may be used for this purpose. Very strong or compact manures, as those in which there is little straw or litter, should be avoided. The ground may be covered to a depth of five or six inches, or even a foot or more if the material is loose. Avoid throwing strong manure directly on the crown of the plants, especially of herbs, for the materials that leach from the manure sometimes injure the crown buds and the roots.
This protection may also be given to established plants, particularly to those which, like roses and herbaceous plants, are expected to give a profusion of bloom the following year. This mulch affords not only winter protection, but is an efficient means of fertilizing the land. A large part of the plant-food materials have leached out of the mulch by spring, and have become incorporated in the soil, where the plant makes ready use of them.
[Illustration: Fig. 153: Covering plants in a box.]
Mulches also serve a most useful purpose in preventing the ground from packing and baking by the weight of snows and rains, and the cementing action of too much water in the surface soil. In the spring, the coarser parts of the mulch may be removed, and the finer parts spaded or hoed into the ground.
[Illustration: Fig. 154: Covering plants in a barrel.]
Tender bushes and small trees may be wrapped with straw, hay, burlaps, or pieces of matting or carpet. Even rather large trees, as bearing peach trees, are often baled up in this way, or sometimes with corn fodder, although the results in the protection of fruit-buds are not often very satisfactory. It is important that no grain is left in the baling material, else mice may be attracted to it. (The danger of gnawing by mice that nest in winter coverings is always to be anticipated.) It should be known, too, that the object in tying up or baling plants is not so much to protect from direct cold as to mitigate the effects of alternate freezing and thawing, and to protect from drying winds. Plants may be wrapped so thick and tight as to injure them.
The labor of protecting large plants is often great and the results uncertain, and in most cases it is a question whether more satisfaction could not be attained by growing only hardy trees and shrubs.
The objection to covering tender woody plants cannot be urged with equal force against tender herbs or very low bushes, for these are protected with ease. Even the ordinary mulch may afford sufficient protection; and if the tops kill back, the plant quickly renews itself from near the base, and in many plants—as in most hybrid perpetual roses—the best bloom is on these new growths of the season. Old boxes or barrels may be used to protect tender low plants (Figs. 153, 154). The box is filled with leaves or dry straw and either left open on top or covered with boards, boughs, or even with burlaps (Fig. 154).
Connoisseurs of tender roses and other plants sometimes go to the pains of erecting a collapsible shed over the bush, and filling with leaves or straw. Whether this is worth while depends wholly on the degree of satisfaction that one derives from the growing of choice plants (see Roses, in Chap. VIII).
[Illustration: Fig. 155. Laying down of trellis-grown blackberries.]
The tops of plants may be laid down for the winter. Figure 155 shows a method of laying down blackberries, as practiced in the Hudson River valley. The plants were tied to a trellis, as the method is in that country, two wires (a, b) having been run on either side of the row. The posts are hinged on a pivot to a short post (c), and are held in position by a brace (d). The entire trellis is then laid down on the approach of winter, as shown in the illustration. The blackberry tops are so strong that they hold the wires up from the ground, even when the trellis is laid down. To hold the wires close to the earth, stakes are thrust over them in a slanting position, as shown at n n. The snow that drifts through the plants ordinarily affords sufficient protection for plants which are as hardy as grapes and berries. In fact, the species may be uninjured even without cover, since, in their prostrate position, they escape the cold and drying winds.
In severe climates, or in the case of tender plants, the tops should be covered with straw, boughs, or litter, as recommended for regular mulch-covers. Sometimes a V-shaped trough made from two boards is placed over the stems of long or vine-like plants that have been laid down. All plants with slender or more or less pliant stems can be laid down with ease. With such protection, figs can be grown in the northern states. Peach and other fruit trees may be so trained as to be tipped over and covered.
Laid-down plants are often injured if the covering remains too late in the spring. The ground warms up early, and may start the buds on parts of the buried plants, and these tender buds may be broken when the plants are raised, or injured by sun, wind, or frost. The plants should be raised while the wood and buds are still hard and dormant.
Pruning is necessary to keep plants in shape, to make them more floriferous and fruitful, and to hold them within bounds.
Even annual plants often may be pruned to advantage. This is true of tomatoes, from which the superfluous or crowding shoots may be removed, especially if the land is so rich that they grow very luxuriantly; sometimes they are trained to a single stem and most of the side shoots are taken away as they appear. If plants of marigold, gaillardia, or other strong and spreading growers are held by stakes or wire-holders (a good practice), it may be advisable to remove the weak and sprawling shoots. Balsams give better results when side shoots are taken off. The removing of the old flowers, which is to be advised with flower-garden plants (page 116), is also a species of pruning.
Distinction should be made between pruning and shearing. Plants are sheared into given shapes. This may be necessary in bedding-plants, and occasionally when a formal effect is desired in shrubs and trees; but the best taste is displayed, in the vast majority of cases, in allowing the plants to assume their natural habits, merely keeping them shapely, cutting out old or dead wood, and, in some cases, preventing such crowding of shoots as will reduce the size of the bloom. The common practice of shearing shrubbery is very much to be reprehended; this subject is discussed from another point of view on page 24.
The pruner should know the flower-bearing habit of the plant that he prunes,—whether the bloom is on the shoots of last season or on the new wood of the present season, and whether the flower-buds of spring-blooming plants are separate from the leaf-buds. A very little careful observation will determine these points for any plant. (1) The spring-blooming woody plants usually produce their flowers from buds perfected the fall before and remaining dormant over winter. This is true of most fruit-trees, and such shrubs as lilac, forsythia, tree peony, wistaria, some spireas and viburnums, weigela, deutzia. Cutting back the shoots of these plants early in spring or late in fall, therefore, removes the bloom. The proper time to prune such plants (unless one intends to reduce or thin the bloom) is just after the flowering season. (2) The summer-blooming woody plants usually produce their flowers on shoots that grow early in the same season. This is true of grapes, quince, hybrid perpetual roses, shrubby hibiscus, crape myrtle, mock orange, hydrangea (paniculata), and others. Pruning in winter or early spring to secure strong new shoots is, therefore, the proper procedure in these cases.
Remarks on pruning may be found under the discussion of roses and other plants in subsequent chapters, when the plants need any special or peculiar attention.
Fruit-trees and shade-trees are usually pruned in winter, preferably late in winter, or in very early spring. However, there is usually no objection to moderate pruning at any time of the year; and moderate pruning every year, rather than violent pruning in occasional years, is to be advised. It is an old idea that summer pruning tends to favor the production of fruit-buds and therefore to make for fruitfulness; there is undoubtedly truth in this, but it must be remembered that fruitfulness is not the result of one treatment or condition, but of all the conditions under which the plant lives.
All limbs should be removed close to the branch or trunk from which they arise, and the surface of the wound should be practically parallel with such branch or trunk, rather than to be cut back to stubs. The stubs do not heal readily.
All wounds much above an inch across may be protected by a coat of good linseed-oil paint; but smaller wounds, if the tree is vigorous, usually require no protection. The object of the paint is to protect the wound from cracking and decay until the healing tissue covers it.
Superfluous and interfering branches should be removed from fruit-trees, so that the top will be fairly open to sun and to the pickers. Well-pruned trees allow of an even distribution and uniform development of the fruit. Watersprouts and suckers should be removed as soon as they are discovered. How open the top may be, will depend on the climate. In the West, open trees suffer from sun-scald.
The fruit-bearing habit of the fruit-tree must be considered in the pruning. The pruner should be able to distinguish fruit-buds from leaf-buds in such species as cherries, plums, apricot, peach, pear, apple, and so prune as to spare these buds or to thin them understandingly. The fruit-buds are distinguished by their position on the tree and by their size and shape. They may be on distinct “spurs” or short branches, in all the above fruits; or, as in the peach, they may be chiefly lateral on the new shoots (in the peach, the fruit-buds are usually two at a node and with a leaf-bud between them), or, as sometimes in apples and pears, they may be at the ends of last year’s growths. Fruit-buds are usually thicker, or “fatter,” than leaf-buds, and often fuzzy. Heading-back the tree of course tends to concentrate the fruit-buds and to keep them nearer the center of the tree-top; but heading-back must be combined with intelligent saving and thinning of the interior shoots. Heading-back of pears and peaches and plums is usually a very desirable practice.
Aside from the regular pruning to develop the tree into its best form to enable it to do its best work, there are wounds and malformations to be treated. Recently, the treating of injured and decayed trees has received much attention, and “tree doctors” and “tree surgeons” have engaged in the business. If there are quacks among these people, there are also competent and reliable men who are doing useful service in saving and prolonging the life of trees; one should choose a tree doctor with the same care that he would choose any other doctor. The liability of injury to street trees in the modern city and the increasing regard for trees, render the services of good experts increasingly necessary.
Street trees are injured by many causes: as, starving because of poor soil and lack of water under pavements; smoke and dust; leakage from gas mains and from electric installation; gnawing by horses; butchering by persons stringing wires; carelessness of contractors and builders; wind and ice storms; overcrowding; and the blundering work of persons who think that they know how to prune. Well-enforced municipal regulations should be able to control most of these troubles.
[Illustration: Fig. 156. Lath tree guard.] [Illustration: Fig. 157. Wire-and-post tree guard]
Along roadsides and other exposed places it is often necessary to protect newly set trees from horses, boys, and vehicles. There are various kinds of tree guards for this purpose. The best types are those that are more or less open, so as to allow the free passage of air and which are so far removed from the body of the tree that its trunk may expand without difficulty. If the guards are very tight, they may shade the trunk so much that the tree may suffer when the guard is removed, and they prevent the discovery of insects and injuries. It is important that the guard does not fill with litter in which insects may harbor. As soon as the tree is old enough to escape injury, the guards should be removed. A very good guard, made of laths held together with three strips of band-iron, and secured to iron posts, is shown in Fig. 156. Figure 157. shows a guard made by winding fencing wire upon three posts or stakes. When there is likely to be danger from too great shading of the trunk, this latter form of guard is one of the best. There are good forms of tree guards on the market. Of course hitching-posts should be provided, wherever horses are to stand, to remove the temptation of hitching to trees. Figure 158, however, shows a very good device when a hitching post is not wanted. A strong stick, four or five feet long, is secured to the tree by a staple and at the lower end of the stick is a short chain with a snap in the end. The snap is secured to the bridle, and the horse is not able to reach the tree.
[Illustration: Fig 158. How a horse may be hitched to a tree.]
Trees and bushes are often seriously injured by the gnawing of mice and rabbits. The best preventive is not to have the vermin. If there are no places in which rabbits and mice can burrow and breed, there will be little difficulty. At the approach of winter, if mice are feared, the dry litter should be removed from about the trees, or it should be packed down very firm, so that the mice cannot nest in it. If the rodents are very abundant, it may be advisable to wrap fine wire netting about the base of the tree. A boy who is fond of trapping or hunting will ordinarily solve the rabbit difficulty. Rags tied on sticks which are placed at intervals about the plantation will often frighten rabbits away.
[Illustration: Fig. 159. Bridge-grafting a girdle.]
Trees that are girdled by mice should be wrapped up as soon as discovered, so that the wood shall not become too dry. When warm weather approaches, shave off the edges of the girdle so that the healing tissue may grow freely, smear the whole surface with grafting-wax, or with clay, and bind the whole wound with strong cloths. Even though the tree is completely girdled for a distance of three or four inches, it usually may be saved by this treatment, unless the injury extends into the wood. The water from the roots rises through the soft wood and not between the bark and the wood, as commonly supposed. When this sap water has reached the foliage, it takes part in the elaboration of plant-food, and this food is distributed throughout the plant, the path of transfer being in the inner layers of bark. This food material, being distributed back to the girdle, will generally heal over the wound if the wood is not allowed to become dry.
In some cases, however, it is necessary to join the bark above and below the girdle by means of cions, which are whittled to a wedge-shape on either end, and inserted underneath the two edges of the bark (Fig. 159). The ends of the cions and the edges of the wound are held by a bandage of cloth, and the whole work is protected by melted grafting-wax poured upon it. [Footnote: A good grafting-wax is made as follows: Into a kettle place one part by weight of tallow, two parts of beeswax, four parts of rosin. When completely melted, pour into a tub or pail of cold water, then work it with the hands (which should be greased) until it develops a grain and becomes the color of taffy candy. The whole question of the propagation of plants is discussed in “The Nursery-Book.”]
[Illustration: Fig. 161. A wound, made by freezing, trimmed out and filled with cement.]
The following advice on “tree surgery” is by A.D. Taylor (Bulletin 256, Cornell University, from which the accompanying illustrations are adapted):—
“Tree surgery includes the intelligent protection of all mechanical injuries and cavities. Pruning requires a previous intimate knowledge of the habits of growth of trees; surgery, on the other hand, requires in addition a knowledge of the best methods for making cavities air-tight and preventing decay. The filling of cavities in trees has not been practiced sufficiently long to warrant making a definite statement as to the permanent success or failure of the operation; the work is still in an experimental stage. The caring for cavities in trees must be urged as the only means of preserving affected specimens, and the preservation of many noble specimens has been at least temporarily assured through the efforts of those practicing this kind of work.
[Illustration: Fig. 160. A cement-filled cavity at the base of a tree.]
“Successful operation depends on two important factors: first, that all decayed parts of the cavity be wholly removed and the exposed surface thoroughly washed with an antiseptic; second, that the cavity, when filled, must be air tight and hermetically sealed if possible. Trees are treated as follows: The cavity is thoroughly cleaned by removing all decayed wood and washing the interior surface with a solution of copper sulfate and lime, in order to destroy any fungi that may remain. The edges of the cavity are cut smooth in order to allow free growth of the cambium after the cavity is filled. Any antiseptic, such as corrosive sublimate, creosote, or even paint, may answer the purpose; creosote, however, possesses the most penetrating powers of any. The method of filling the cavities depends to a great extent on their size and form. Very large cavities with great openings are generally bricked on the outside, over the opening, and filled on the inside with concrete, the brick serving the purpose of a retaining wall to hold the concrete in place. Concrete used for the main filling is usually made in the proportion of one part good Portland cement, two parts sand, and four parts crushed stone, the consistency of the mixture being such that it may be poured into the cavity and require little or no tamping to make the mass solid. (Fig. 160.)
“Fillings thus made are considered by expert tree surgeons to be a permanent preventive of decay. The outside of the filling is always coated with a thin covering of concrete, consisting of one part cement to two parts fine sand. Cavities resulting from freezing, and which, though large on the inside, show only a long narrow crack on the outside, are most easily filled by placing a form against the entire length of the opening, having a space at the top through which the cement may be poured (Fig. 161). Another method of retaining the concrete is to reinforce it from the outside by driving rows of spikes along the inner surface of either side of the cavity and lacing a stout wire across the face of the cavity. For best results, all fillings must come flush with the inner bark when finished. During the first year, this growing tissue will spread over the outer edge of the filling, thus forming an hermetically sealed cavity. In the course of time, the outside of small or narrow openings should be completely covered with tissue, which buries the filling from view.
[Illustration: Fig. 162. Bridge-grafting or in-arching from saplings planted about the tree.]
“It has been found that there is a tendency for portland cement to contract from the wood after it dries, leaving a space between the wood and the cement through which water and germs of decay may enter. A remedy for this defect has been suggested in the use of a thick coat of tar, or an elastic cement which might be spread over the surface of the cavity before filling. The cracking of portland cement on the surface of long cavities is caused by the swaying of trees during heavy storms, and should not occur if the filling is correctly done.
[Illustration: Fig. 163. Faulty methods of bracing a crotched tree. The lower method is wholly wrong. The upper method is good if the bolt-heads are properly counter-sunk and the bolts tightly fitted; but if the distance between the branches is great, it is better to have two bolts and join them by hooks, to allow of wind movements.]
“In addition to the preservation of decayed specimens by filling the cavities, as above outlined, it has been proposed to strengthen the tree by treating it as shown in Fig. 162. Young saplings of the same species, after having become established as shown, are grafted by approach to the mature specimen.
“Injury frequently results from error in the method of attempting to save broken, or to strengthen and support weak branches that are otherwise healthy. The means used for supporting cracked, wind-racked, and overladen branches which show a tendency to split at the forks are bolting and chaining. The practice of placing iron bands around large branches in order to protect them has resulted in much harm; as the tree grows and expands, such bands tighten, causing the bark to be broken and resulting after a few years in a partial girdling (Fig. 163).
[Illustration: Fig. 164. Trees ruined to allow of the passage of wires.] [Illustration: Fig. 165. Accommodating a wall to a valuable tree.] [Illustration: Fig. 166. The death of a long stub.]
[Illustration: Fig. 167. Bungling pruning.] [Illustration: Fig. 168. The proper way to saw off a large limb. A cut is first made on the under side to prevent splitting down; then it is cut on the upper side. Then the entire “stub” is removed close to the trunk.]
“To bolt a tree correctly is comparatively inexpensive. The safest method consists in passing a strong bolt through a hole bored in the branch for this purpose, and fastening it on the outside by means of a washer and a nut. Generally the washer has been placed against the bark and the nut then holds it in place. A better method of bolting, and one which insures a neat appearance of the branch in addition to serving as the most certain safeguard against the entrance of disease, is to counter-sink the nut in the bark and imbed it in portland cement. The hole for the sinking of the nut and washer is thickly coated with lead paint and then with a layer of cement, on which are placed the nut and washer, both of which are then imbedded in cement. If the outer surface of the nut be flush with the plane of the bark, within a few years it will be covered by the growing tissue.
[Illustration: Fig. 169. A weak-bodied young tree well supported; padding is placed under the bandages.] [Illustration: Fig. 170. The wrong way of attaching a guy rope.] [Illustration: Fig. 171. An allowable way of attaching a guy rope.] [Illustration: Fig. 172. The best way of attaching a guy rope, if a tree must be used as support.]
“The inner ends of the rods in the two branches may be connected by a rod or chain. The preference for the chain over the rod attachment is based on the compressive and tensile stresses which come on the connection during wind storms. Rod connections are preferred, however, when rigidity is required, as in unions made close to the crotch; but for tying two branches together before they have shown signs of weakening at the fork, the chain may best be used, as the point of attachment may be placed some distance from the crotch, where the flexibility factor will be important and the strain comparatively small. Elms in an advanced stage of maturity, if subjected to severe climatic conditions, often show this tendency to split. These trees, especially, should be carefully inspected and means taken to preserve them, by bolting if necessary.”
[Illustration: Fig. 173. A method of saving valuable trees along streets on which heavy lowering of grade has been made.]
The illustrations, Figs. 164-173, are self-explanatory, and show poor practice and good practice in the care of trees.