THE NAKED ACRE : Page 135

The first two are of course controllable through the soil. Less obviously, so is the third. When a young tree is transplanted, air for its roots is just as important as for its upper parts. Infant mortality among trees in new grounds results more often from suffocation than from any other cause. There is a sorry tendency, even among tree merchants who should know better, to plant young stock too deeply or in ground not loosened widely enough around the questing new roots. Worried that their plantings may blow over, people plunk them into narrow, hard-walled holes and pound them tight. Then they drench them with too much water, stuff them with too much food, fuss over them and peek at the roots to see "how they are doing." The time to peek at roots is when you buy the tree, or dig it afield yourself. But let us come to that phase of treescaping a naked acre after considering the over-all plan.