1885.] IX THE UXITEl) KIXaDOM. 127 



Planting. 



Having the plants now selected they should be carefully 

 lifted, leaving- the roots as little as possible exposed to the air, 

 and well covered with mats if they require to be carted any 

 distance, especially if the air is frosty. Once upon the field of 

 operations, they should be carefully heeled in the ground, each class 

 of plants upon the division in which they are to be planted, so as 

 to be handy for the planters when planting begins. All the small 

 plants should be notched in, and pits be made for the large ones. 

 The sizes of the pits should be regulated by the root room required 

 by each tree ; observing not to cram in any of the roots, but give 

 them full room so as to be laid out in the pit to their full length. 

 Oak and other hardwood trees should be root-pruned in the nursery 

 about eighteen months previous to their being permanently planted 

 out. In planting by the notch, each man with a half-worn sharp 

 spade, cuts the surface like a cross, or in the shape of the letter T, 

 and turns up the turf by pressing the handle of the spade towards 

 the ground ; a boy follows him and puts a plant into the slit, and 

 treads down the notch again on each side of the stem with alternate 

 feet. Where boys cannot be got for inserting the plants, a man 

 with a light spade in one hand and plants in the other can plant 

 as well, but not the same number as he would with a boy. The 

 notch is made by two heavy cuts; and without taking the spade out 

 of the cross (or last) cut, the handle is pressed towards the ground 

 by one hand and the plant inserted into the open slit by the other. 

 The spade is then withdrawn and the plant made lirm by the 

 planter's foot. In planting by this system it is necessary having a 

 boy for every ten or twelve men, with a strong apron, to carry the 

 plants from where they are heeled in the ground to the planters, 

 and give a handful to each man as he requires them. A man and 

 a boy in a day of ten hours on ordinary ground should plant from 

 3 400 to 1600; a man alone, and well up to the work, should 

 plant from 1000 to 1200 per day. 



Distance apart at which Young Trees should he 2^lanted. 



In treating upon this, we will observe the divisions we have already 

 made for the different soils and plants. 



A well-sheltered Valley. — Artificial shelter is of no consequence 

 upon a site of this nature ; therefore the distance apart at which 

 plants should be set may be regulated by the nature of the local 

 wood sales. Where no small wood can be sold to advantage, it 

 would be waste of money and labour to plant too close (shelter 



