Planting and Bedding 



when there is no outward and active growth. From October 

 to March the period may extend. Of course the earlier 

 it is got in the better chance it has to become suited to 

 the surroundings, and to prepare itself for making renewed 

 effort on reawakening. Let it also be accepted as a self- 

 evident truth that it is bad practice to plant a tree when 

 the soil is very wet, or very dry, or frozen, or covered with 

 snow. With these exceptions you may plant any time 

 during the period mentioned. Ordinary cultivation, it must 

 be admitted, does not extend to the depth required for fruit 

 planting. It is safe to say that seldom is the soil disturbed 

 below nine inches in depth. This, of course, is contrary to 

 the doctrine laid down in this and other books, but it is 

 nevertheless only too true. It is evident that a tree cannot 

 be planted with any hope of success in such shallowness. 

 To sustain itself properly a fruit-tree must have not less 

 than eighteen inches of good soil to grow in, and prefer- 

 ably it should be increased to two feet or even two-and-a- 

 half feet. If the ground is to be given up entirely to fruit, 

 and it is possible to put on the labour, the whole plot 

 should be thoroughly trenched. It often happens, how- 

 ever, that fruit-trees are to be planted in an orchard. In 

 this case we cannot well trench the whole of the ground, so 

 that when the stations for the trees are found, a circular 

 area is dug out to a depth of quite two-and-a-half feet, and 

 filled in with good soil. A strip of land, as shown in Fig. 86, 

 might be cultivated which, when possible, is better than 

 having merely the hole dug out. This illustration, together 

 with the other (Fig. 87), will serve to show how the positions 

 of the trees may be marked out. 



The great objection to digging out holes in which to 



