When and how to procure the trees: The trees should be selected in the nursery personally. Some persons prefer to seal the more valuable specimens with leaden seals. Fall is the best time to make the selection, because at that time one can have a wider choice of material. Selecting thus early will also prevent delay in delivery at the time when it is desired to plant. When to plant: The best time to plant trees is early spring, just before growth begins, and after the frost is out of the ground. From the latter part of March to the early part of May is generally the planting period in the Eastern States. Where one has to plant both coniferous and deciduous trees, it is best to get the deciduous in first, and then the conifers. How to plant: The location of the trees with relation to each other should be carefully considered. On the lawn, they should be separated far enough to allow for the full spread of the tree. On streets, trees should be planted thirty to thirty-five feet apart and in case of the elm, forty to fifty feet. In woodlands, it is well to plant as close as six feet apart where small seedlings are used and about twelve feet apart in the case of trees an inch or more in diameter. An abundance of good soil (one to two cubic yards) is essential with each tree where the specimens used are an inch or two in diameter. A rich mellow loam, such as one finds on the surface of a well-tilled farm, is the ideal soil. Manure should never be placed in direct contact with the roots or stem of the tree. Protection of the roots from drying is the chief precaution to be observed during the planting process, and for this reason a cloudy day is preferable to a sunny day for planting. In case of evergreens, the least exposure of the roots is liable to result disastrously, even more so than in case of deciduous trees. This is why evergreens are lifted from the nursery with a ball of soil around the roots. All bruised roots should be cut off before the tree is planted, and the crown of the tree of the deciduous species should be slightly trimmed in order to equalize the loss of roots by a corresponding decrease in leaf surface. The tree should be set into the tree hole at the same depth that it stood in the nursery. Its roots, where there is no ball of soil around them, should be carefully spread out and good soil should be worked in carefully with the fingers among the fine rootlets. Every root fibre is thus brought into close contact with the soil. More good soil should be added (in layers) and firmly packed about the roots. The last layer should remain loose so that it may act as a mulch or as an absorbent of moisture. The tree should then be thoroughly watered. [Illustration: FIG. 95.--Specifications for a Street Tree.]