34 CONIFEROUS PLANTS. 



fixed stake. Now, with some prepared compost, fill in 

 amongst and over the roots, adding sufficient to raise 

 it as high as the natural " collar" of the plant. If it is 

 spring, and the weather dry, a good watering should 

 be given previously to placing the final covering of 

 earth over the roots, and the whole should be slightly 

 covered to prevent excessive evaporation. Attention 

 will be requisite to prevent the plant suffering from 

 drought. 



We have mentioned that the height of stakes for 

 support, if at all necessary, should not be more than 

 two-thirds that of the plant, because to confine a 

 young tree by strapping it up to the tip of its 

 leader is to retard its growth materially; and for 

 all purposes of support the height recommended is 

 quite sufficient. Many persons very erroneously 

 because it greatly injures their plants tie up the 

 leading shoots of their young Deodars to their extreme 

 points. The practice is highly injurious, to say nothing 

 of its destroying the peculiarly graceful character of 

 the tree. 



If the soil is of a very inferior description, some 

 additional care will be required in preparing for plant- 

 ing ; that at least for the immediate reception of 

 each tree should be wholly removed, and to a depth of 

 at least eight or ten inches below where it has been 

 trenched. Such additional depth must be filled with 

 some rough porous material, as stones or broken 

 bricks, to act as drainage to the soil above, and from 

 which a drain must lead to the nearest convenient 

 outlet. And something a few sods of turf with the 



