PLANTING. 121 



small gardens it is generally desirable, for the sake 

 of producing immediate effect, to plant plants of 

 considerable size ; and in this case, in addition to 

 the precautions which have been already men 

 tioned, it is desirable to plant by what is called 

 fixing with water. This operation is performed in 

 the following manner : the hole being properly 

 prepared, the plant placed in it, and the roots 

 spread out on every side, and extended as far as 

 they will go, one person holds the plant upright, a 

 second sprinkles earth over the roots, and a third 

 supplies water from a watering-pot, with a rose on, 

 if the plant be small, and without a rose, if it be a 

 tree of six feet or eight feet in height, holding the 

 pot as high above his head as his arms will reach. 

 The weight of the water coming down from such 

 a height, consolidates the soil about the roots, and 

 fixes them in such a manner, as to render the 

 plant, if it has been carefully taken up, almost in 

 the same state as it was in before removing. 

 Large trees or shrubs, if planted in this manner in 

 the autumn, and staked, where there is danger from 

 high winds, will grow, and even flower and fruit, 

 the following year, as well as if they had not been 

 removed. In this kind of planting, with large 

 plants, the hillock, left after the operation is finish 

 ed, should not be less than a foot or eighteen 

 inches above the surrounding surface ; and to 

 lessen evaporation during the ensuing summer, 

 the hillock should, if possible, be covered with 

 short litter, moss, turf turned upside down, or even 

 small stones, for the first year. In staking large 

 plants of this kind, the stakes should be placed 

 close to the stem of the plant, in which positior 

 they are much less likely to injure the fibrous 

 11* 



