Arboriculture as a Hobby. 289 



siich as the silver fir, are slow growing in their early stages, 

 but grow eventually to a great height. The trees should be 

 divided into different classes, and planted in different groups, 

 all the fast growing ones together, and all the slower growing 

 ones. It would be a pity to surround a silver fir with trees such 

 as the Douglas fir and larch, as it would never be seen, even at 

 a short distance, for many years, and it would ap'p^ear as though 

 there were a blank. I would suggest that the tallest and fastest 

 growing trees be placed in the background or in the centre of a 

 group, with the others graduated down to the outside, with 

 perhaps a border of flowering shrubs. Conifers and hardwoods 

 could be judiciously mixed, so as to make a good show of colour 

 all the year round. 



As to the distance at which to place the trees apart, there 

 can be no hard and fast rule. The smaller shrubs might be 

 planted from 6 to 8 feet apart. A tree with a large spreading 

 crown, such as the sycamore, would need from 24 to 36 feet of 

 space, whereas a tree of the spruce tribe would be content with 

 18 to 20' feet. 



In the early stages the spaces could be filled up with larch 

 or birch, which would act as nurses to the more extensive trees, 

 and could be cut out gradually as the latter spread their 

 branches, or they could be filled with flowering shrubs, which 

 would also be cut out when they had served their purpose. 



As to the time of year to plant, this again depends on the 

 variety of tree. Most of our hardier trees can be planted with 

 safety in the autumn, but the planting of the more delicate 

 exotics should be deferred till the danger from spring frosts is 

 past. Most foresters now plant such trees in April or the begin- 

 ning of May, so that they can have a better start in their new 

 position. 



The trees should all be planted in pits that have been opened 

 some time before, to allow the soil to become broken up and 

 sweetened by the action of frost. These pits should be large 

 enough to admit of the roots being placed in a natural position 

 all round the plant, not cramped and bent about to fit the hole. 

 The soil at the bottom of the pits should be loosened up to a fair 

 .depth, and the tree planted not more than half an inch deeper 

 than it stood in the nursery lines. This half -inch allows for a 

 little subsidence of the soil. Trees planted too deeply never 



