654 Mr. Spencer U. Pickering [Feb. 21, 



the further advantage that, when adopted, trees can be planted what- 

 ever the condition of the soil may be. When a heavy soil is in a 

 sticky condition through wet, it is impossible to plant trees in it in 

 the ordinary way, for the lumps of earth cannot be shaken between 

 the roots so as to secure even an imperfect contact with them ; but 

 with ramming this contact is effected even more satisfactorily when 

 the soil is wet than when it is dry. We have planted hundreds of 

 trees in our stiff soil at Woburn in this way with the best results, at 

 a time when planting in the ordinary way would have been quite out 

 of the question. 



That trees will not flourish unless the soil in which they are grow- 

 ing is sufficiently aerated, is well known. And this is the reason 

 why a tree, when planted, should not be buried deeply in the soil : 

 but a latitude of a good many inches in the depth at which it is 

 planted has been found to make no difference, because the new roots 

 on which the life of the tree depends, form most readily at whatever 

 depth is most suited to their development, or if they form at other 

 depths, they soon make their way to the most favourable level. 



The fact that roots flourish best at some particular level not far 

 below the surface (the depth varying in different soils) is the ex- 

 planation of some results which appeared to show the exact con- 

 trary. A number of paradise stocks were planted with their 

 roots at various depths from 6 to 24 inches below the surface, 

 and it was found that those whicli had been buried deepest, 

 although they were the most backward at first, rapidly outstripped 

 the others, and in two years had made twice as much growth 

 as these had done. On lifting the trees the reason of this was 

 apparent ; in the case of those which had been planted at 

 the ordinary depth, the root-system of the trees was the same 

 as that which they had possessed when planted, though more de- 

 veloped [Slide shown], whereas with the buried trees the original 

 roots, finding themselves at an unsuita])le depth, had not developed, 

 but in their place numerous fresh roots had developed from the stem 

 of the tree itself, and these, finding ample food-material stored in 

 the stem, had developed strongly, and formed a vigorous root-system, 

 with the natural accompaniment of vigorous branch growth. Such 

 results, depending as they do on the ability of the tree to send out 

 new roots from its stem, would not be obtained if a grafted tree 

 were l)uried in the same way, for roots do not easily arise from the 

 stem of such a tree : indeed, wlien the experiment was made with 

 crab stocks instead of paradise stocks, the results were unfavourable, 

 for the crab stock does not root so easily from the stem as does the 

 paradise stock. Thus, these experiments are the reverse of showing 

 that an ordinary fruit tree should be planted at a great depth. 



It will be seen that all the anomalous results which have been 

 obtained on the subject of planting are easily explained by, and are 



