24 THE FLOEAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



of tbe roots remain ; plant them very deep, do not tread them firm, 

 and take care not to stake them. 



They will certainly begin to grown rather late in the spring, and 

 endeavour to overcome the various impediments to their well-doing 

 ■which have been imposed upon them by the first condition?. This 

 lengthens out the process of killing, and increases the interest of the 

 task. Dig about their roots frequently all the summer. If they are 

 in the kitchen garden, crop as near to them as possible. You may 

 as well have plenty of cabbages and cauliflowers off the same ground 

 as the apple and pear trees occupy, and so let there be no scruples 

 about using the spade where their roots run, and even quite close to 

 their stems, as the more you destroy their surface fibres the better. 

 It will not kill them quickly, but only cause them to send down tap 

 roots into the cold subsoil, and this will favour disease, which in- 

 creases the fun. If they are in the border next the grassplot, you 

 have a fine opportunity to practise a little torture. Grow climbers 

 of some sort at the root of every tree — sweet-peas will do very well, 

 or honeysuckle, convolvulus, clematis may be used ; and to train them 

 up the stems use wall nails, and nail up the trailing plants with 

 shreds, just as if they were growing on a wall. This will make 

 plenty of wounds in the bark, and cause canker nicely. Then, if any 

 of your rifle-shooting friends want practice, let them aim at the stems 

 of the trees, and see how many bullets they can plant in the wood ; 

 a.nd if you want to try one of ISaynor's knives at any time, scoop out 

 pieces of wood from the stems. If a branch grows where you do not 

 want it, snap it ofi"; if there is any fruit produced, knock it off with 

 a heavy stick — this will bruise the fruit and the trees at the same 

 time, and serve as healtliy exercise. 



One very eftectual way of killing is largely practised in suburban 

 gardens. It is slow and sure, and so pays well, because it aftords a 

 ksting amusement. It consists in periodically raising the level of 

 tbe soil about the trees ; say, putting on six inches of loam this year 

 to raise the level of a bed or border where trees are planted. Next 

 year, another six inches of old mortar, or sand, or coal-ashes. Per- 

 haps the next year a high bank for ferns, and so on, to remove the 

 roots of the trees farther and farther from the atmosphere and sun- 

 shine. This causes gouty swellings in the branches, then canker, 

 then barrenness. By-and-by some of the branches die, the stem dies 

 on one side, more branches perish, and the head of the tree is prettily 

 sprinkled with dead spray and feeble slioots that do not grow at all. 

 iSTow ring it near the bottom, and make the ring complete all round, 

 and at least four inches wide. This will hasten the death of the tree, 

 and you may have the pleasure the next year of cutting it down, and 

 obtaining a cartload of firewood as a reward for your perseverance. 



Allow young trees to be used on washing days to tie clothes-lines to 

 — such a service is worth having, as it tends to bruise the bark and 

 draw the tree aside out of the perj^endicular, which is a nice strain on 

 its roots and very advantageous. Above all things, when transplant- 

 ing make short work of it. Just open the soil round the tree, and 

 chop at its roots freely, and then tear it out of the ground. 



