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IRISH GARDENING. 



OCTOBER 



ZEXOBIA SPECIO^A t.KOWI.Sl. I.N Bl>IAML (.'■.' 



being thrown over the roots until the hitter are 

 out of sight. 



As spring approaches, the long-intending 

 planter decides to stick in the trees, and the 

 chances are that the operation is performed 

 before the ground is fenced. Over the 

 method and period of planting we may draw 

 a veil, but it does not require a ver\ \ivid 

 imagination to conjure up a process which will 

 leav'e the trees with the greater part of their 

 roots out of sight and their tops leaning at 

 various inclinations to the horizon, and it is 

 sufficient to presume that Sir Walter Scott's 

 command, issued through the medium of the 

 Laird of Dumbiedykes, has been literally obeyed. 



A dry, wind)' March or April are now all that 

 is needed to convert that particular farmer 

 into an anti-forestry expert. He will describe, 

 in vivid language, how his trees, so judiciously 

 selected, so carefully planted, and so thorough!)' 

 protected against cattle (after 50 per cent, or so 

 had lost their tops), changed from green to grey 

 and from grey to red ; how he was misled by the 

 man who induced him to plant and defrauded by 

 the nurseryman who sold him the plants ; and 

 how, through the loss of them, he was robbed of 



the use, for one 

 entire summer, of 

 the best bit of land 

 he had on his farm. 

 The above picture, 

 in one or the other 

 of its V a r i o u s 

 phases, may be 

 seen at most sea- 

 sons of the year 

 and in most parts 

 of the country. The 

 moral of it is — 

 " don't plant unless 

 \ ou are prepared 

 to carry out the 

 whole work in a 

 thorough and 

 careful m a n n e r." 

 Choose short, fre- 

 quently trans- 

 planted trees, of a 

 size not larger than 

 is necessary to en- 

 able the trees to keep 

 alive in the herbage 

 of the ground to be planted, and choose them 

 first — i.e., before others have picked out the best. 

 See that the trees are properly lifted, and not 

 delayed on the road before they reach you. If 

 you cannot plant them out at once, untie the 

 bundles, and place them thinly in trenches in a 

 sheltered corner of the garden or some spot 

 where fine, moist soil can be got to cover the 

 roots. Leave them there until the ground is 

 fenced, holes dug, and everything ready for 

 careful planting. Should the weather be dry or 

 windy at the time of planting, puddle the roots 

 in wet clay as soon as they are lifted out of the 

 trench. See that the roots are put properly 

 into the ground and firmly trodden in when 

 there, and, finally, do pot forget to go round and 

 tread them up again after windy weather. 



With all these and many other precautions 

 failures will still occur, especially with certain 

 species. But apart from exceptionally dry 

 springs and from species which Nature never in- 

 tended to be moved after the seedling period of 

 planting, provided proper care and attention is 

 paid to it, is not a particularly risky proceeding. 

 Our advice to amateurs is, however, " Begin in 

 a small way and gain experience as you §0." 



