PL A 



464 



PL A 



of moisture in the heats of summer ; i 

 the atmosphere more freely finds access 

 to their roots; and not only yields its 

 watery vapour in the warmest weather 

 for their service, but its gases, so es- 

 sential to their very existence, are also 

 in a similar manner more readily ab- 

 sorbed. 



Draining. — The most neglected, yet 

 most important, of all the branches of 

 forest culture, is draining. This ought to 

 be done thoroughly before planting ; but 

 if it has been neglected, may be done 

 at any time, the sooner the better, and 

 the effects will surprise, in a year or 

 two, even the most sanguine. I have 

 seen larch plantations, by draining only, 

 converted from sickly worthless trees 

 to thriving valuable woodlands. 



Planting. — "Too little attention," 

 Mr. C. Johnson justly observes, " is 

 usually paid by planters in the choice 

 of their plants, the manner in which 

 they have been reared, and in the care 

 of their removal. Instead of attending 

 to the acquired habits of the tree, it is 

 a very common practice for the plants 

 to be bought of some nurseryman who 

 has reared them in a warm rich bottom, 

 and then, as a natural consequence, 

 when the trees are transplanted to a 

 cold, poor, hungry, exposed soil, a 

 large proportion of them are sure to 

 perish, or, if they live, many become 

 stunted or stag-headed. 



" There are other very common er- 

 rors, of which I have long noticed the 

 ill effects ; for instance, the want of 

 care with which the roots of the young 

 trees are deposited in the earth, and 

 the unnecessary length of time which 

 is suffered to elapse between the period 

 when the plant is taken from the nur- 

 sery and replanted. I have always 

 found the good effect of causing the 

 roots of the young plant to be carefully 

 arranged and spread out before the 

 earth is thrown in upon them — the 

 usually heedless way in which the roots 

 are thrust into the hole, and perhaps 

 broken or materially bruised in the act 

 of treading in the earth upon them, is 

 of necessity prejudicial to the young 

 plant; and then, again, a still more 

 negligent practice, that of ploughing 

 in the young trees, is too often adopted 

 on a large scale, by which the plants 

 are still more hastily deposited in the 

 soil, and are neither fixed with suffi- 

 cient firmness in the ground, nor even 



placed in an upright position." — Farm. 

 Enc. 



There is certainly no economy in this 

 hasty mode of planting ; the trees perish 

 in great numbers; they linger for years 

 without vigour ; have to be replaced at 

 a considerable expense; and, in the 

 mean time, the owners lose all the ad- 

 vantage which might have been ensured 

 from a more skilfully obtained rapidity 

 of growth. In planting on a large 

 scale, the same pains and care should 

 be taken as in inserting a shrub in the 

 parterre. 



Pruning. — If care be taken to rub 

 off ill-placed shoots in the early stages 

 of a tree's growth, no after-pruning — 

 no extensive application of the knife 

 and saw — will be required, except in 

 case of casual ties. When a large branch 

 requires amputation, it is best to leave 

 a stump projecting a full foot from the 

 stem. The face of the wound should 

 be towards the ground, and the edges 

 trimmed smooth with a very sharp 

 knife. 



PLASHING is " a mode of repairing 

 or modifying a hedge by bending down 

 a portion of the shoots, cutting them 

 half through near the ground to render 

 them more pliable, and twisting them, 

 among the upright stems, so as to render 

 the whole more effective as a fence, 

 and at the same time preserve all the 

 branches alive. For this purpose the 

 branches to be plashed, or bent down, 

 must not be cut more than half through, 

 in order that a sufficient portion of sap 

 may rise up from the root to keep alive 

 the upper part of the branches. 



" Where hedges are properly formed 

 and kept, they can very seldom require 

 to be plashed." — Farm. Enc. 



PLATANTHERA. Thirteen species. 

 Hardy orchids, except the stove, P. 

 susannce, and the green-house, P.jiava. 

 Seed. Loam, peat, and chalk. 



PLATANUS. Plane-Tree. Two spe- 

 cies and three varieties. P. orientalis 

 does not suffer from the disease which 

 has of late years attacked one indige- 

 nous species. Hardy deciduous trees. 

 Layers, cuttings, and seed. Common 

 light soil. 



PLATYCARPIUM orinocense. 

 Stove evergreen tree. Cuttings. Peat 

 and loam. 



PLATYCHILUM celsianum. Green- 

 house evergreen shrub. Young cut- 

 tings. Sandy loam and peat. 



