Rensselaer Union, Volume 2, Number 1, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 September 1869 — What Age to Plant Frnit Trees. [ARTICLE]

What Age to Plant Frnit Trees.

■,< ar fgst coming over to the opinion and practice of such men aa PhceniX, Quinn, arid other practical hOrticirilMrikta tM ‘•tJttejoungeti.pm frees time, of transplanting, the better thCir health irrtd growth; and the sooner'; will they 1 bear fruit,” , j , ' A great many think that a, three or four year old tree will Behr Aortrter than one tWo yours younger, aad<the nurserymen can testify well to, the demand for trees for ” immediate fruiting ; n bin I eorisider it a boetly, Unsatisfactory pnuitjce T; , Nearly, every.tree of-that age loses by necessity a large portion of its rodts Iry transplanting from the nursery toils future,bed; in - order to maintain a healthy, progressive growth, the top must be shortened ; in,;in same proportion; sometimes quite severely ; and by the time this is completed, the tree is really little or nt> better thftn oirt a year or two younger. It happen9i:;U<¥V-< ever, in the majority of casps,‘that the trees are neither well planted* : n<H* well pruned, and the first years growth.idler planting in its'new home is weak, sickly, stunted; with the least posable prospect' .of fruit. u. ;< . •. A I To remedy all this, I say choose young trees, not over one or two years old.- “Fluty are in the Ibhg run the best investment,, and prove most renmnerative. They cost less at the nursery; the freight Is less than one-half; the trees lose *few ar-nootoets ;> they are more easily set out, saying labor and expensive preparation of tlid ground, and then they commence a continuous growth, which experiences few or none of the drawbacks incident to older trees,,and at last reward the owner with- luxuriant crops of really chbfcb fruit. It may seem hard to MY S ait fiwa or six years before he can get returns from his investment; but hk wfll'fihd atthe -end of tMt tfibb thwt 1W tine year ojd trees are better ill every-reapect than his four year old fancies* This rule can be. safely applied 1 to all standard trees —apples, pears, plumbs, pitches, I apricots, itteJ Inno case wpukl i. recommend trees over two years of eige.—Horticulturist.