WATKlU.Nd TKANSI'1,ANTKD T". KKS. 



romaiiiinti soil drawn in withmit tran)])infij or pressure of any kind. A tree so 

 planted will never recjnire watering afterwards; but it will reipiire other treatment, 

 whieli will be yet noticed before the end of this chapter. 



Surface water should never be applied to a transplanted tree in the manner usually 

 given, for the followinjjr reasons : Every one knows that there are certain substances, 

 which do not absorb heat readily, and which are termed good non-conductors ; and 

 others which are soon heated, or condurtors. Wood is a tolerably good non- 

 conductor, because it will not become as readily heated as iron ; while a brick is a 

 better conductor of heat than clay or other soil, because it sooner becomes warmed 

 through. A large clod of earth, also, becomes heated through in much quicker 

 time, than the same bulk of soil would have done in a well pulverized state. This 

 absorption of heat would not, perhaps, be of so much consequence to the plant, were 

 it not for the increased impetus it gives to evaporation. A large clod of soil not 

 only soon heats through, but soon dries through, — it is a Letter conductor than 

 pulverized soil. 



It is obvious, then, that a soil is in a good condition to retain moisture about the 

 roots of newly transplanted trees, when it is as far removed from a clotty condition 

 as possible. But water, when frequently and forcibly applied to the surface, tends 

 to harden it, and renders it liable to "bake" by a very little sun, therefore, surface 

 watering should, if possible, be avoided; as, indeed, should every thing liable to 

 pi-oduce this effect on soils. 



The question now occurs, that if a tree has not been watered at transplanting in 

 the manner above described ; and if it is evidently suffering, or likely to suffer, for 

 want of moisture, how is it to be applied, except through the surface ? The mode 

 is this : Draw away the soil from around the stem of the tree with a spade or hoe, 

 until the roots are nearly reached, and in such manner as to form a basin around it ; 

 fill in water to the brim. An hour or so afterwards, when the water has soaked 

 thoroughly away, draw back the dry soil forming the brim of the basin to its former 

 position as lightly, and without pressure, as possible. It is all the water it will 

 require that season, if properly performed. 



And now that we have seen our trees well planted, and those that need it after- 

 wards well watered, how shall we proceed to aid the soil in retaining the moisture 

 supplied to it ? Simply by keeping the surface well pidverized, and in the best 

 condition of a non-conductor that we can bring it into ; but it is necessary not to 

 mistake what pulverization means. Stirring, or ''loosening up" a soil, is not 

 pulverizing it, though often supposed to be. It is, however, the first step towards 

 it. In farming, the plough stirs up the soil ; the roller, or harrow, pulverizes. The 

 heo and the sjmde are the gardener's plough; his feet form his roller, or clod crusher. 

 The operations of ploughing and rolling, and of loosening and pressing, in gardening 

 should always go together ; and, in relation to tree planting, whenever a soil is 

 getting hard, or in a "caky" condition, it should not only be hoed or stirred up, 

 but as soon as the loosened soil has become a little dry, it should be pressed with the 

 and crushed to atoms. 



