As a rule, I have not much sympathy with the effort to set out
large trees in the hope of obtaining shade more quickly. The trees
have to be trimmed up and cut back so greatly that their symmetry
is often destroyed. They are also apt to be checked in their
growth so seriously by such removal that a slender sapling,
planted at the same time, overtakes and passes them. I prefer a
young tree, straight-stemmed, healthy, and typical of its species
or variety. Then we may watch its rapid natural development as we
would that of a child. Still, when large trees can be removed in
winter with a great ball of frozen earth that insures the
preservation of the fibrous roots, much time can be saved. It
should ever be remembered that prompt, rapid growth of the
transplanted tree depends on two things--plenty of small fibrous
roots, and a fertile soil to receive them. It usually happens that
the purchaser employs a local citizen to aid in putting his ground
in order. In every rural neighborhood there are smart men--"smart"
is the proper adjective; for they are neither sagacious nor
trustworthy, and there is ever a dismal hiatus between their
promises and performance. Such men lie in wait for newcomers, to
take advantage of their inexperience and necessary absence. They
will assure their confiding employers that they are beyond
learning anything new in the planting of trees--which is true, in
a sinister sense. They will leave roots exposed to sun and wind--
in brief, pay no more attention to them than a baby-farmer would
bestow on an infant's appetite; and then, when convenient, thrust
them into a hole scarcely large enough for a post. They expect to
receive their money long before the dishonest character of their
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