TRANSPLANTING AND PLANTING. 289 



Packing Evergreens. In removing evergreens, even of small size, and 

 whether they are of the pine and fir tribe, or shrubs, the same care is 

 requisite not to expose their roots to the air, and to plant them as soon 

 as possible after they have been taken up. When evergreen shrubs are 

 to be sent to a distance, they ought to be packed in such a way as to 

 prevent the roots from becoming dry, by surrounding their balls or 

 pots with moist sphagnum, and leaving their tops as loose as possible. 

 The top of the hamper being formed with strong stakes into a roomy 

 cover, and the whole enclosed with a mat. 



Methods of Planting Small Plants. We have seen that in trans- 

 planting all large plants, a pit is opened of dimensions proportionate to 

 the size of their roots, and this is also the case in planting single plants 

 of small size ; but when small plants are planted in large numbers, 

 different modes are adopted for the sake of expedition, and to save 

 labour. Such of these modes as are in general use, we shall shortly 

 describe, premising that in almost every case when plants are planted 

 in considerable numbers in gardens, they are placed in rows, but that 

 in plantations and shrubberies they are generally planted irregularly 

 or in groups. The rows should in almost every case be placed in the 

 direction of north and south, for reasons easily understood, when we 

 consider the influence of the sun on the soil between the rows and on 

 the sides of the plants in this case, as compared with rows in the 

 direction of east and west. No trees or shrubs should be inserted deeper 

 in the soil than they were before being taken up. The burying up of 

 the collar of the plant is a fruitful source of weakness, disease, and 

 death. 



Planting with the Dibber is adapted for seedlings and very small 

 plants. The soil ought to have been previously dug, or stirred by 

 some other means, so that the fibres of the young plant may strike 

 readily into it. In performing the operation, a hole is made with the 

 dibber with one hand, then the root of the plant is inserted to the 

 proper depth, and held there by the leaves, or stem, with the other 

 hand, while, by a second movement, the dibber is inserted by the side 

 of the hole in such a manner as to press in one of its sides to the root 

 of the plant, taking care that the pressure on the roots shall be greatest 

 at its lowest extremity, and that it should be such as to hold the plant 

 so fast that when slightly pulled by one of its leaves it does not come 

 up. Large seeds, bulbs, and cuttings of tubers, or of roots without 

 leaves, as of the potato, Jerusalem artichoke, &c., are frequently planted 

 with the dibber, which, in these cases, is furnished with a blunt point. 

 Newly -rooted small-cuttings, on the other hand, are planted with small 

 pointed sticks. All common seedlings, such as those of the cabbage 

 tribe, are planted with the large dibber, and most small seedlings with 

 the small one. 



Planting with the Trowel. The trowel is entered in the soil per- 

 pendicularly, so as to open a hole, against one side of which the plant 

 is placed, and the soil returned and firmly pressed against it if the soil 

 be dry, or gently if it be moist. The majority of plants in the flower- 

 garden are planted in this manner. 



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