IV PLANTING 63 
vertently bruised and injured. All the plants for 
the day having been put in, some more soil should 
be added to each plant; and then tread but lightly, 
make the surface level, and look to the row again in 
a few days with a rake, filling depressions and doing 
away with any cracks that may appear. This will 
be better than treading too heavily at the time of 
planting. If the weather should continue very dry, 
watering may be desirable ; and if the plants have 
good green leaves on when put in, the heads should 
be watered at once on unpacking, and the plants 
well watered and syringed immediately after 
planting. 
It is easy to imagine a beginner having some 
uneasy reflections after following the above instruc- 
tions. ‘I have planted my roses only four inches 
deep, and trained the roots horizontally, as certainly 
seems right from the analogy of fruit trees and from 
what I know of the advantage to roots of the fertilising 
influences of sun, air, and the surface bacteria. But 
nearly all my manure, and I gave a great quantity 
of valuable stuff to my Teas, has been buried some 
distance below the plants, and what is the use of 
all that manure there, if the roots are not to be 
allowed to go down to it ?”’ 
Here comes in another important principle, to 
illustrate which I will take as my text the soil in 
which hyacinths and other bulbs are grown in 
immense quantities in Holland for sale. This soil 
is extremely valuable, as the profit on the cultivation 
in good hands may reach quite £50 an acre. And 
what is it? Pure sand and nothing else for a depth 
of four feet or more, which no English farmer would 
take rent free. Yet the hyacinth must have plenty 
