AN EXPERIMENT IN PLANTING. 33 



a hand-glass in a peat border, where in the course of a few years 

 it becomes so strong as to produce six or eiglit flowers. It may 

 also be cultivated in pots, which should be kept in a shaded place. 

 The soil it appears to like best is sandy peat, with plenty of 

 drainag-e. 



VII. — An Experiment hi Planting. By Peter Mackenzie, oi 



West Plean, Stirling. 



(Communicated August 10, 1847.) 

 Much has been said in gardening periodicals respecting the 

 shallow planting of fruit-trees ; and perhaps, after all, more may 

 be said and done yet, for Ave seldom get at the best way of doing 

 a thing all at once. We liave been often told that deep plant- 

 ing is a bad thing, and is tlie cause of much evil to fruit and fruit- 

 trees, and the cause of much disappointment to cultivators. 

 All may not know that it is not for the welfare of trees and 

 bushes to have their roots colder in the soil than the stem and 

 branches in the atmosphere ; but the explanation is given in the 

 " Theory of Horticulture." 



" The reason why it is necessary to plants in a growing state 

 that the mean temperature of the earth should be higher than 

 that of tlie air is sufficiently obvious. Warmth acts as a stimu- 

 lus to tlie vital forces, and its operation is in proportion to its 

 amount within certain limits. If, then, the branches and leaves 

 of a plant are stimulated by warmth to a greater degree than the 

 roots, they will consume the sap of the stem faster than the roots 

 can renew it, and therefore nature takes care to provide against 

 this by giving to tlie roots a medium permanently more stimu- 

 lating, that is warmer, than to the branches and leaves." 



Some time ago I planted some fruit-trees and gooseberry- 

 bushes in different positions, with the intention of exposing the 

 roots of some of them as much as possible to the influence of all 

 sorts of weather ; not all at once, but gradually, so that they 

 might not be injured from the want of their earthy covering. 

 A young gooseberry-bush was planted upon a small mound of 

 earth, with a stake in the centre of the mound ; the stem of the 

 plant was tied to the stake to prevent it from falling, for the 

 slight covering of earth which the roots got was not sufficient to 

 support the plant, and the bush had more the appearance of 

 being punished for some transgression than one expected to live, 

 for it was well secured to the stake, and had little attachment to 

 the soil of this world ; but it is wonderful to what plants and 

 animals may be trained — 



Fingit equura teuera docilem cervice Magister 

 Ire viam quam monstrat eques. 

 VOL, III. D 



