PLANTING — A THEORY FOE AMERICA. 



PLANTING.— A THEORY FOR AMERICA. 



BY TUOMAS MEEIIAN, OERMANTOWN, PA. 



"When a s^ardener first arrives in this country he is told that in a great measure 

 lie has his business to learn over again. This is a matter of surprise to him. Are 

 not, he inquires, the principles of gardening the same all the world over ? Know- 

 ing the theory of Horticulture, can I not vary my practice to suit circumstances ? 

 This would be all very well if this " theory" were perfect, which unfortunately it 

 is not yet found to be. 



In nothing more have we been mystified by theory, or rather left to our own 

 dark ways, than in the matter of the best time to plant trees. After all that 

 has been said and written, where are there two who will agree to any well de- 

 fined principle? "I have found spring to be the best time," says one ; "but," says 

 his friend, " I have found autumn to be a better." Now if our theory were 

 truly perfect, would there be any difference of opinion on this point ? I think 

 not. 



All the aid we have received from physiological writers is, as stated byLindley, 

 by whom we are accustomed to swear, that, as the roots of plants grow in winter, 

 except when actually encased in frozen soil, it is better to plant in fall and winter 

 than in spring, because the extra supply of roots before the period of spring 

 growth, renders the plant better able to meet the demands for moisture the foliage 

 makes on it. 



This theory is right in this, that it assumes the importance of preparing the fullest 

 supply of moisture and food for an expected heavy demand; but it is faulty in 

 supposing that that demand does not occur till spring. In England it would be 

 right enough, but in America it is all wrong. 



If we cut a branch from a tree, and expose it to a clear sun, it is dried up in 

 a few hours ; but if it be a foggy, misty time, it will not dry up as ranch in a day. 

 So much depends on a dry or moist atmosphere. Evaporation rises from a living 

 tree, as well as from a cut branch, and in proportion to the saturation of the 

 atmosphere. In England, during the winter months, its atmosphere is as nearly 

 saturated with moisture as possible, but in America, is nearly as dry as in summer. 

 Indeed, it is a question whether it is not dryer in our severest frosty days, than 

 it ever is under our blazing midsummer sun. Hence a living tree in England 

 would be storing moisture every day during winter, while the same tree in Ame- 

 rica may have it drying out faster than it comes in by the root. 



In choosing the best time to plant trees, therefore, we have to make it, as I 

 have said in my Handbook of Trees, " a question of evaporation," rather than 

 one of growth by the roots merely. Then we can understand the varying success 

 of different individuals with different seasons, which before seemed unaccountable. 

 One man plants a quantity of hemlocks or junipers in November ; the roots 

 commence to grow at once, but also at once, sets in a dry cold " spell," and the 

 moisture evaporating faster than it comes in, the plants dry up, are in fact 

 " scorched," as truly, literally, scorched as if by the influence of a July sun. 

 He goes at it again in spring, a moist time ensues, not rainy, perhaps, or even 

 foggy; but a genial, mild, "even tempered" time, and they succeed. Then the 

 time, not the circumstances, suggests itself, and with him there is no time to 

 plant like the spring. Not so with his neighbor; he also planted in Novem 

 " didn't take any particular care either." For a few days there was 

 moisture in the atmosphere that the roots had time to " get a fair ' 



