CHAPTEE V. 



PREPARING GROUND FOR PLANTING. 



Much of the success or failure of larch culture depends 

 upon the state and condition of the soil for receiving 

 the plants. If the ground is naturally dry and com- 

 paratively free and clear of rank herbage, and at the 

 same time sufficiently loose and open to a depth of 

 about a foot, so as to admit air freely, nothing 

 further is required than to make an opening in the 

 ground proportionate to the size of the plant, and 

 carefully put it in. If, however, as is more frequently 

 the case, the ground is naturally in an improper con- 

 dition for planting, something must be done artificially 

 to make it so. 



The common spade is sometimes successfully em- 

 ployed in turning over stony matted surfaces, where 

 the herbage is deep-rooted and the turf thick. 



The surface of the ground is in many cases of such 

 a nature as to burn readily when dry. When this is 

 the case, and no special inducement is held out for 

 retaining the turf, the most advisable plan is to pare 

 it in spring or early summer, allow it to dry, and burn 

 it in heaps on the ground. Where the surface is too 

 extensive, however, to admit of paring the whole sur- 



