Walla Walla Statesman

WEEKLY STATESMAN.

SATURDAY, March 10, 1877.

Cultivate the Young Trees.—People are apt to think, when they have set out a young tree or an orchard of young trees, they have done all that is necessary to insure a rapid growth, and, if a fruit tree or trees, a good supply of good fruit. This is a great mistake, and frequently costs those who make it the trees they neglect. If a man plants a hill or field of corn or beans or potatoes, and desires to produce a good yield of either, he considers it necessary to cultivate and hoe them, to keep the weeds down and to keep the surface pulverized, so that it will absorb moisture from the air and thus nourish and invigorate the roots of the plants and make them grow. If this be necessary with corn, beans and potatoes, how much more necessary with a fruit tree which has been taken from the ground where it grew and its roots exposed, and then transplanted to begin life and growth anew. Then again, while the hill of vegetables has but little value, the trees have a value much greater. While one lasts but one season and will be affected by good treatment or bad but a little time at most, the other should and may be made to last a man's lifetime and will be affected during its entire life by the treatment it receives when young, during the first year of its transplanting. It is important that trees, the first year after transplanting at least, should be well cared for and made to make as vigorous growth as possible, to prevent the sun from heating the bark and producing what is known among orchardists as sun scald. If the sap moves the least slowly or weakly the sun will check that movement on the south side, and cause that side of the tree to die, and then the tree itself might almost as well die entirely, for sooner or later it will have to give way to the wound thus inflicted when young. The soil around newly transplanted trees should be kept well pulverized and clear of weeds till the very hot weather sets in, or till the soil becomes warm and dry, and should then be laid by under a good mulch of some material that will absorb rather than reflect the rays of the sun. Half rotted straw or stable manure makes good material for mulching. It should, to do the most good, cover a circle around the tree from four to six feet in diameter.