PLANTING. 37 



herbage and shrubby plants are kept under by cattle, &c. ; but when such 

 lands are inclosed for planting 1 , and thereby protected from stock, the 

 natural plants, which before appeared diminutive and slow of growth, sud- 

 denly attain a size and vigorous vegetation highly detrimental to the 

 young forest trees. 



2. Mattock planting is confined chiefly to rocky ground, and to soils 

 containing many coarse, tough roots of herbage, heath, &c. ; and under 

 these circumstances the mattock is an indispensable instrument. It is 

 thus described in the Planter's Kalendar : * The handle is three feet six 

 inches long; the mouth is five inches broad, and is made sharp; the 

 length of it to the eye or shaft is sixteen inches, the small end or pick is 

 seventeen inches long' (c, fig. 6). It may be unnecessary to mention that 

 the broad or hoe end should be faced with steel and kept well sharpened ; 

 it is perfectly effective in cutting or paring the heath, furze, &c., and 

 the pick end is equally so for thoroughly loosening and fitting the soil to 

 be operated upon with the spade or planter (rf). The Hackle prongs are 

 recommended for clayey, tenacious soils*, which are difficult to work 

 with the spade. It is made with two or three prongs ; the former of two 

 for the soil just mentioned, and the latter of three prongs for stony or 

 gravelly soils. 



3. Holing. Holes or pits are dug out, and the loosened soil left for 

 a season to the action of the weather, to ameliorate and reduce its texture. 

 Time should be afforded for the rotting or decomposition of the turf or 

 surface produce taken off' the space which is opened, previous to the period 

 of planting. The size of the holes should vary according to the size of the 

 plants to He planted, and to the nature of the subsoil. Plants from 

 one and a half to two feet high should have the holes two feet wide and 

 eighteen inches deep, prepared in the summer or autumn for the reception 

 of the plants in spring. For trees of larger growth, the extent of the 

 roots must determine the size of the holes, making an allowance of from 

 six inches to a foot of extra width beyond the extreme points of the 

 roots. Holes made in tenacious clays retain the water which falls into 

 them, and rots the roots of the trees ; dry, light, sandy soils cannot be 

 benefited by the pulverizing' action of the sun and air; rocky soils admit 

 but imperfectly of holing ; arid some kinds of binding gravelly soils are 

 as liable to the retention of moisture as stiff clays. The practice of holing 

 is therefore never attended with success on these kinds of soil. 



Spade planting applies to land prepared for the reception of the plants 

 by trenching. Although this mode of planting is the most common in 

 use, and may appear to require but little exercise of skill on the part of 

 the operator, it is nevertheless often very badly executed. It is best 

 performed when the holes are made a few inches wider than the roots of 

 the plant extend ; the earth of the bottom of the hole should be broken 

 down with the spade, the sides all round should be made to slope inwards, 

 so as to cause the bottom to be wider than the top. The person who holds the 

 plant should then place it in the centre of the pit, arid the operator with 

 the spade should have ready some fine surface soil to cover the bottom 

 and raise it up to the proper height, the person holding the plant raising 

 it at the same time, so that it may stand not deeper in the soil than it 

 previously stood. The earth should then be carefully thrown in a finely 

 divided state, and the plant during the operation slightly moved, so as to 

 prevent the roots from being covered in bundles, and to afford each root 

 and rootlet to have a portion of soil intervening between it and the rest. 



* Pontey's Profitable Planter. 



