168 THE MANAGEMENT OF [CHAP. VII. 



care, however, to provide effectual drainage, 

 as otherwise the chamber, as it is called, would 

 become a reservoir of stagnant water, exceed- 

 ingly injurious to the plants. The chamber 

 having been formed, it should be covered with 

 good rich garden mould to the requisite depth ; 

 varying in some instances according to the 

 kind of tree to be grown in it, but in all cases 

 thoroughly pulverised, so as to offer no obstruc- 

 tion to the passage of the roots. 



When the trees are planted, care should be 

 taken to raise each on a little hillock, at the 

 point of junction between the trunk and the 

 root, to allow for the sinking of the ground. 

 The collar of a ligneous plant should never be 

 buried ; as any moisture collected round this 

 tender part brings on canker, and innumerable 

 other diseases. Fruit trees thus buried gene- 

 rally produce deformed fruit, and die in a few 

 years of premature old age. 



It can never be repeated too often, that the 

 essential point in growing fruit trees is to keep 

 their roots as near to the surface as possible, at 

 least never to suffer them to descend so deep 

 as to be out of the influence of the sun and 

 air. Many persons unacquainted with vege- 

 table physiology have an idea that when a fruit 

 tree which has been productive suddenly ceases 

 to bear, it is because its roots have reached the 

 gravel, or in other words, the subsoil. This is, 

 however, false reasoning on true premises. It 

 is quite true that the tree has ceased to bear in 

 consequence of the descent of its roots; but 

 the reason this descent is injurious is, that the 

 ground far below the surface is cold, and fre 



