PLANTING AN ORCHARD
Reading edition
(Arbor Day)
The life of a tree depends largely on the way it starts.
Once there was a man who wanted to plant an orchard of apple trees. He sent to a nursery for some young plants, and when they came all wrapped up in a good bundle, he thought of what fine trees he was going to have, and the beautiful apples they would bear.
The bundle came just about the time the man was starting to town on some business. So he sent off at once for a man who knew how to plant trees, and said to him, “Here are my young apple trees, and I want you to plant them for me. I shall be gone all day,” and he showed the man where to plant them.
When he came back later in the afternoon the man had planted only six trees. The owner was surprised, and said, “You have planted but six trees. It seems to me you work very slowly.”
The man replied, “Yes, but I do my work thoroughly. You see I dug great holes so that the roots of the young trees might not be broken or cramped; then I hauled rich earth from the woods, and mixed it well with the top soil; then I packed the earth carefully around the roots so that it would be firm; and then I watered each plant until it was thoroughly soaked. All that takes time, and one must not be in a hurry about planting a tree if he expects it to live and flourish.”
“That sounds very fine,” said the owner, “but it is too slow a way for me. I could have planted five times as many in a day. You take too much trouble.” So he dismissed the man and the next day he planted his orchard in his own way.
He dug the holes just large enough to hold the roots by twisting them together, and many of the rootlets were broken or injured as they were forced into place; he did not get the soft, rich earth from the woods, nor was he careful in packing the dirt around the roots, and then he did not fill the holes with water.
“Now, see there,” he said to himself, “I have planted a whole orchard in one day.”
But see what happened! The trees the owner planted so carelessly lived for awhile, and put out a few leaves. They bore some little apples, and then the owner cut them down. But the six trees the other man planted grew up strong and healthy. In a few years they were well shaped and tall and began to bear quantities of the most beautiful apples. When the owner was an old man they still were standing, and everybody would say, “What wonderful apple trees! What splendid fruit!”
But the old man knew he could have had a whole orchard like that if he had planted them all as the six were planted.