PLANTATIONS 87 



or no increase in size. For a few of the large and gen- 

 erally popular shade trees, such as maples, lindens, plane 

 trees, elms, tulips, the cut on page 85 will indicate a 

 desirable, though entirely conventional, example of the 

 proper dimensions for superior specimens. 



The second mistake we find generally made is setting 

 the plant too deep. It will readily appear sensible to any 

 one who will take time for thought that a tree or shrub 

 when transplanted will naturally like to stand in its new 

 home exactly at the same depth it occupied in the place 

 from whence it came. Some allowance should naturally 

 be made for settlement, which, however, need not cause 

 the mold to be left around the tree more than an inch or 

 two higher than it originally stood. 



Recently it was the good fortune, or bad fortune, of 

 the author, for the experience was instructive though 

 the injury was expensive, to see a whole avenue of at 

 least fifty Norway maples, that had been planted by a 

 careless foreman who knew better, set eighteen inches to 

 two feet lower in the ground than they grew in the place 

 from which they were brought ; the consequence being 

 death to some of the trees, and to all a check in the 

 gro^^1:h that it will take years to overcome, although 

 they have been, for some time, raised to the proper ele- 

 vation with relation to the surrounding soil. 



Furthermore, the hole should be dug considerably 

 larger than the area of the roots of the tree when spread 

 out, and should, moreover, be made considerably larger, 

 and not smaller, as is usually the case, at the bottom 

 than the top. 



In regard to the necessity for improving the character 

 of the soil that is to be used in the hole, especially in 

 light, sandy ground, the author feels that it is impossible 



