On Plant I u;;. 535 



the neck and haudle, for opening up the notched gruuiul iur llie 

 reception of the seedlings. 



5. A combined pick and mattock for holing in very hard and stony 

 ground, where the holes are made as the planting proceeds. 



6. A two or three pronged short-handled hoe, resembling the 

 *' Canterbury hoe," for the removal of stones after the soil has been 

 well loosened by the mattock. 



7. A small one-handed adze-like planting hoe, about Ak or 5 inches 

 wide at the extremity of the blade, for holing for small plants in the 

 loosened ground. 



All things being prepared, the forester will choose his weather, and 

 divide his available staff into raisers, pruners, carriers, and planters, in 

 numbers proportioned to the requirements of the several operations. 

 The raisers will commence by opening a trencli alongside the first row 

 of trees to be raised, and a little deeper than the roots penetrate, and 

 so completely loosen the soil that the plants will come out without 

 force and with their roots intact. This operation must be repeated for 

 every succeeding row until all are raised. By proceeding with great 

 care very little root-pruning will be necessary. But where the tap- 

 roots have not been previously undercut they should now be shortened, 

 and any injured roots should be removed. Immediately this is done 

 immerse the roots and a few inches of the stem in a puddle of clay 

 and water of such a consistency that it will stick well to them. 

 Whoever has paid much attention to the structure and functions of 

 roots, and has observed that it is through the spongioles at the ends 

 of the slender fibres — and through these alone — that the plant obtains 

 its nourishment from the soil, will hesitate before cutting back a 

 single root. The larger roots are covered with an epidermis, or skin, 

 which in older trees becomes thickened into a cortical integument, 

 like bark, and are quite destitute of pores. 



Though root-pruning is a custom " more honoured in the breach 

 than the observance," yet it will often be necessary to prune back the 

 head of a plant so as to start it on its course with a fair chance of 

 success. This will be desirable when from injury or otherwise its 

 root-growth is greatly disproportioned to the size of the head. To 

 replant it in this state would be to start it on its course too heavily 

 handicapped, and sooner or later it must succumb. By a judicious 

 lightening of the head, and thus adapting its requirements to the 

 power of the roots, the equilibrium may be restored, and such shoots 

 only wiU be produced as the roots have power to support. The 

 neglect of this precaution is the reason why in a new plantation so 

 many of the trees shoot only from near the ground or break out in 

 sprigs a little way up. But such pruning as is here recommended 

 requires great care and judgment, and should only be entrusted to 



