PLANTING. 5 1 



growth was commenced, and we have seen them die. We 

 have seen them removed after they had made their growth, 

 but it had not ripened, and the shoots had not assumed theii 

 permanent position, and the natural consequence followed — 

 they were perhaps two seasons dying, but they commenced 

 their decay from the moment their roots were taken from the 

 ground. If the ground, when trees are planted, is too dry, 

 water must be administered, and in no small quantity, because, 

 when we have done our best in taking up a plant, there has 

 always been some sacrifice. There is an exception, perhaps, 

 in plants taken out of peat ; for it has been often seen that a 

 piece of the earth larger than the entire root is chopped out 

 whole, and these plants cannot even feel their removal ; they 

 do not lose a fibre, and so completely are they taken up by 

 good nurserymen, that if they are in l3loom they do not even 

 fade. Planting, after all, then, consists — first, in removing a 

 plant from the place in wliich it grows without disturbing so 

 as to lose any of its roots, and that, too, at the period when 

 its roots are of least use to it ; secondl}'^, in counteracting the 

 mischief, if we have lost any roots, by lessening the work the 

 root has to do — that is, by cutting away a sufficient portion of 

 the tree to make up for the loss of roots ; thirdly, in placing 

 it again in the ground, where it is wanted, as solidly, and 

 with the roots as near as we can place them in the position 

 they were in their old situation ; fourthly, in supplying 

 moisture, if it be deficient, and so fostering it in its place that 

 it shall not afterwards be disturbed. So much for planting 

 trees and shrubs. 



In planting largely, as in timbering estates, the trees are 

 generally used so small that little pains are taken to keep the 

 roots whole, (except with the coniferae, which will not bear 

 l)runing,) oaks, elms, beech, alder, ash, plane, and in fact all 

 deciduous trees, being taken up and root-pruned, as well as 

 head-pruned, with the greatest advantage ; and if the soil be 

 at all congenial to the work, they are very carelessly planted. 

 A man will drive his spade, which is a strong one, sloping 

 into the soil, and lift it a little, not by pressing down the 

 handle, but by raising it up ; the young tree is tucked into 

 the vacancy, and the sloping clod pressed back upon it, and 

 there ends the operation ; but it is far the best way to get 

 plants a year or two old, dig the ground properly, and to ] ilant 

 it solidly and well ; for if this be well managed, the true is 



