CHAP. CXIII. coni'fer^. za^rix. 2389 



shrubs were entirely removed, young and small plants seemed more desirable 

 than large ones, especially as young ones could be inserted with greater 

 facility into the ground, and at much less cost than old ones. The plant 

 of making pits with the spade is always an expensive one ; and the planting in 

 pits can never be accomplished without the assistance of two people, one to 

 hold the plant upright, and the other to shovel in the turf and the earth with 

 the spade. The turF being thrown on its back into the bottom of the pit, to 

 facilitate its rotting, it forms a serious obstacle to the expansion of the tender 

 roots of the young plant. These pits, when made in the beginning of winter, 

 get filled with rain water or melted snow ; and, even should the plants be in- 

 serted into them when they are in a dry state, the water will afterwards run 

 into the hollow around the plant. This hollow in the top of the pit is formed 

 from the circumstance of the earth, which had been taken out of it at first 

 being unable to fill it again. This is a property of mould well known to 

 planters and labourers. The roots of the plants become chilled. Three or 

 four years old transplanted plants may be so chilled in this manner, as to 

 prevent their pushing out a shoot above 2 in. in length in one season for 

 several years. The slit, on the other hand, formed by the planting instru- 

 ment, resists all ingress of wetness or cold, the surface closing together as if 

 it had never been cut ; and the natural grassy covering protects the young 

 plant from the severer effects of the frost. A one-year-old transplanted plant 

 or a seedling, when inserted into a slit in the ground, takes immediate hold of 

 the mould below, and grows onwards without molestation from the weather. 

 This plant instrument consists of a flat piece of iron, shaped like the head of 

 a flat spear or a mason's trowel, 10 in. in length, and 3 in. in breadth at the 

 widest part. Its neck, which is of one piece with the blade, is 7 in. long, and 

 passes through and is riveted to a cross handle of wood, that remains firm 

 in the plane of the blade. The whole instrument is made stout, and of the 

 best materials. It costs only Is. 6(1. In using this instrument, the planter 

 holds it in one hand, and the plants in the other ; and he makes a slit in the 

 ground of the requisite depth for the plant to be inserted ; then pushing the 

 roots of the plant carefully into the slit, so that they shall not point upwards, 

 he finishes the operation by treading with his heel the ground firm around the 

 plant. 



" The Expense of Labour in planting was greatly reduced by the use of this 

 instrument. Pit-planting required 20 men to pit and plant an acre in a day ; 

 whereas two men will do the same work, in the same time, with the spear- 

 planter. The three and four years old transplanted larch cost 10*. per 1000 : 

 the seedlings only cost 2*. Qd. per 1200. But, besides this direct saving of 

 expense in employing the slit to the pit planting, there is the advantage of 

 scarcely one plant going back by the former mode ; whereas, by the latter, 

 many go back, which are obliged to be filled up afterwards with fresh plants, 

 creating an additional expense ; and many that continued to grow assumed a 

 sickly hue for some years after they were planted." 



Here three tabular views are given, by which it appears that two-years-old 

 transplanted plants, that had been chilled in winter-made pits with cold and 

 wetness, and which were 1 ft. 2 in. high when planted, were, after being 6 years 

 in the pits, only 3 ft. 7 in. high. The same-sized plants, planted in spring-made 

 pits, were, at the end of 6 years, 6ft. 10 in. high; and the same description 

 of plants, planted by slit, were 11 ft. 2 in. high in the same period ; being 

 no less than 7 ft. 3 in. higher than those planted in the autumn-made pits, 

 at more than treble the expense. 



Soil and Situation. " It is an error to suppose that the larch will thrive in 

 all soils and in all situations. There are many kinds of soils in which it will 

 not thrive, and ought not to be planted. It has been found that, in soils 

 which have been turned up by the plough, and which have borne corn crops, 

 the larch cankers : it cankers in wet situations also." On this passage, Mr. 

 Gorrie observes, that he has not found the larch, generally, to canker when 

 planted on land that has borne crops. " In soils resting on a clayey subsoil, 



7 p 4 



