PLANTING. 49 



ciples, and we do not allow ourselves to find any difficulty in 

 an operation so simple. There is nothing more common than 

 to see in anything like a new plantation of various trees and 

 shrubs, many that have suffered considerably, some that are 

 almost dead, and others that have altogether failed. This is 

 the result of downright bad management. There is nothing 

 in the age of the trees or in the nature of them to render such 

 a result likely, and it can only have happened by removing 

 them when all their roots were active and the other organs 

 correspondingly at work, or by a careless sacrifice of parts of 

 their roots in taking up ; or by the ground being in bad order 

 when they were planted, or by improper planting. 



Proper Season for Planting. — The essentials in planting 

 are — to choose the period when all the organs of the plant are 

 dormant ; that is, after the season's growth is completed, and 

 the foliage has attained its size, and before there is any move- 

 ment towards the new growth. Deciduous trees speak for 

 themselves ; when their leaves have fallen, they are at rest, 

 and the moving ought to take place before the new buds have 

 begun to swell ; not that there is much mischief in a little 

 delay, but the proper time is before there is any swelling of 

 the buds ; — next, to take up the tree with every fibre un- 

 damaged ; and more pains is required to accomplish this than 

 many people tliink proper to take ; thirdly, whatever damage 

 the root sustains must be compensated for by a correspond- 

 ing reduction of the tree ; — fourthly, the planting must be 

 conducted so that no violence is done to the parts in the 

 ground ; the earth must be made to fill up the interstice!^ 

 between the roots ; there must be no hollow places. When 

 a tree has suffered much, it is worth the trouble of making 

 the hole full of mud ; that is, pour two or three pails of water 

 into the hole, and throw in a cone of loose earth on which the 

 root may be placed, and fill up with loose earth all round by 

 moving the tree sideways, backward and forward, and lifting 

 it a little, and continuing to fill it with the earth as fast as the 

 water will allow. The tree may be made a fixture in the 

 middle of this soft and tractable soil at a proper height, and 

 a little patience mil enable us to hold it moderately firm, and 

 put stakes to hold it while everything subsides. We do not 

 recommend this to trees removed as they ought to be ; we 

 prefer dry planting when the soil is in good order, and if the 

 earth is bruised fine, we can always get it in among the roots 



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