work can be discovered.  The number of trees which this class of men have dwarfed or killed outright would make a forest.  The result of a well-meaning yet ignorant man’s work might be equally unsatisfactory.  Therefore, the purchaser of the acre should know how a tree should be planted, and see to it himself; or he should by careful inquiry select a man for the task who could bring testimonials from those to whom he had rendered like services in the past.

The hole destined to receive a shade or fruit tree should be at least three feet in diameter and two feet deep.  It then should be partially filled with good surface soil, upon which the tree should stand, so that its roots could extend naturally according to their original growth.  Good fine loam should be sifted through and over them, and they should not be permitted to come in contact with decaying matter or coarse, unfermented manure.  The tree should be set as deeply in the soil as it stood when first taken up.  As the earth is thrown gently through and over the roots it should be packed lightly against them with the foot, and water, should the season be rather dry and warm, poured in from time to time to settle the fine soil about them.  The surface should be levelled at last with a slight dip toward the tree, so that spring and summer rains may be retained directly about the roots.  Then a mulch of coarse manure is helpful, for it keeps the surface moist, and its richness will reach the roots gradually in a diluted form.  A mulch of straw, leaves, or coarse hay is better than none at all.  After being planted, three stout stakes should be inserted firmly in the earth at the three points of a triangle, the tree being its centre.  Then by a rope of straw or some soft material the tree should be braced firmly between the protecting stakes, and thus it is kept from being whipped around by the wind.  Should periods of drought ensue during the growing season, it would be well to rake the mulch one side, and saturate the ground around the young tree with an abundance of water, and the mulch afterward spread as before.  Such watering is often essential, and it should be thorough.  Unskilled persons usually do more harm than good by their half-way measures in this respect.

Speaking of trees, it may so happen that the acre is already in forest.  Then, indeed, there should be careful discrimination in the use of the axe.  It may be said that a fine tree is in the way of the dwelling.  Perhaps the proposed dwelling is in the way of the tree.  In England the work of “groving,” or thinning out trees, is carried to the perfection of a fine art.  One shudders at the havoc which might be made by a stolid laborer.  Indeed, to nearly all who could be employed in preparing a wooded acre for habitation, a tree would be looked upon as little more than so much cord-wood or lumber.

If I had a wooded acre I should study the trees most carefully before coming to any decision as to the situation of the dwelling and out-buildings.  Having removed those obviously unworthy to remain, I should put in the axe very thoughtfully among the finer specimens, remembering that I should be under the soil before Nature could build others like them.