THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 273 



demand a different mode of treatment. I must here beg permission 

 to say that nurserymen are frequently charged with sending inferior 

 plants, from their being found dead a month or two after planting, 

 when, in reality, the person that superintended the work is the 

 guilty party. Having made this charge, I must, in fairness, give 

 the evidence upon which it is founded — evidence, be it understood, 

 by no means circumstantial, but essentially practical, and which I 

 have seen many times confirmed. Well, then, a nurseryman receives 

 an order for a given number of trees and shrubs, 'with instructions 

 to send them by rail to a certain station, from which they will be 

 taken by the waggons of his customer. They are, of course, de- 

 spatched, and in due time reach the ground where they are to be 

 planted, though, thanks to the tardiness of railway transit, they are 

 often a long time on the road. Now, it frequently happens that the 

 weather is very warm and sunny during the whole time the plants 

 are out of the ground, and when they reach their destination the 

 roots are completely dried up, and the plants otherwise drained of 

 their moisture by evaporation. In this condition have I seen plants, 

 and that not seldom, thrown in heaps upon the ground where they 

 were to be planted, with perhaps an old mat or two cast over them 

 as an apology for a covering from the wind and sun, but often with 

 no covering at all, and then put into the ground without any other 

 care or preparation. Small deciduous plants may, and in a measure 

 do, bear up against such treatment ; but that evergreens should 

 survive it is a standing miracle to any one at all conversant with 

 the constitution and requirements of vegetable life. Of course, 

 very many failures do result ; nothing less could, under the circum- 

 stances, be reasonably hoped for. I have no wish to hold up 

 nurserymen as immaculate, or to deny that some of them do not at 

 times send out coarse-rooted plants, and that numerous deaths are 

 the consequence ; but I also know that losses arising from the 

 causes above noticed are often unjustly laid to their charge. I am 

 sure I shall be pardoned for making this little digression. Now, 

 supposing a large number of plants to arrive in the condition above 

 described, this is how I would treat them : Procure a tub or two, 

 each a yard or so in diameter, and two feet deep. Fill them to 

 within six inches of the rim with water and loam mixed to the con- 

 sistency of cream. Let the roots of every plant be dipped in this, 

 and immediately "laid in," taking care that they are well covered 

 with soil. For convenience, the plants should be placed in rows, 

 and as each row is finished give a good watering, and not only at 

 the root, but by means of a rose to the watering-pot well sprinkle 

 their stems and branches. All the plants will imbibe a large amount 

 of moisturo through the soft parts of their stems and branches, and 

 the evergreens in addition to their leaves. If in the day, and the 

 sun is all powerful, some mats, or even straw, thrown over them will 

 be very beneficial. At night this may be taken off', for the sake of 

 the dew ; but nevertheless another good sprinkling from the water- 

 ing-pot may bo given them with advantage. By the following 

 morning the plants will be found to have imbibed moisture equivalent 

 to what they lost on their journey. The roots, too, will be moist, 



September. 18 



