Book IL FORMING PLANTATIONS. 577 



restore their vegetable powers ; for it well deserves notice, that a degree of moisture in soil 

 sufficient to support a plant recently or immediately tak'en from the nursery, would, in the 

 case of dry ones, prove so far insufficient, that most of them would die in it. The pud- 

 dling here recommended may also be of great service in all cases of late planting where 

 small plants are "used; Pontey's method is (after puddling) to tie them in bundles, of two or 

 three hundreds each ; and thus send them, by a cart-load at once, to where wanted ; where 

 such bundles being set upright, close to each other, and a little straw carefully applied to 

 the outsides of them, may remain without damage in a sheltered situation any reasonable 

 time necessary to plant them. Where loose soil happens to be convenient, that should be 

 substituted in the place of straw. 



3666. A puddle for trees is made by mixing water with any soil rather tenacious, so in^ 

 timately as to form a complete puddle, so thick that when the plants are dipped into it, 

 enough may remain upon the roots to cover them. The process of puddling is certainly 

 simple, and its expense too trifling to deserve notice : its effects, however, in retaining, if 

 not attracting moisture, are such that, by means of it, late planting is rendered abundantly 

 more safe that it otherwise would be. It is an old invention, and hence it is truly asto- 

 nishing that it is not more frequently practised. If people were to adopt it generally in 

 spring planting, Pontey believes the prejudice- in favor of autumn practice would soon 

 be done away. {Prof. Plant. 167.) 



3667. Pontey s methods of planting are in general the same as those of Sang : he uses a 

 mattock and planter of similar shape ; and also a two or three pronged instrument, which 

 we have elsewhere denominated the planter's hack. [Encyc. of Gard. 1 305. ) " This in- 

 strument," he says, " has been introduced of late years as an improvement on the mattock 

 and planter, being better adapted to soils full of roots, stones, &c. ; it is likewise 

 easier to work, as it penetrates to an equal depth with a stroke less violent than the for- 

 mer : it is also less subject to be clogged up by a wet or tenacious soil. The length 

 of the prongs should be about eight inches, and the distances between them, when 

 with three prongs, one and a half, and with two prongs, about two inches ; the two- 

 pronged hack should be made somewhat stronger than the other, it being chiefly intended 

 for very stony lands, or where the soil wants breaking, in order to separate it from the 

 herbage, &c. These tools are chiefly applicable to plants of any size up to about two 

 feet, or such as are generally used for great designs, where they are used as a substitute for 

 the spade, in the following manner : The planter being provided with a basket holding 

 the plants required (the holes being supposed prepared, and the earth left in them), he 

 takes a tree in one hand, and the tool in the other, which he strikes into the hole, 

 and then pulls the earth towards him, so as to make a hole large enough to hold 

 all its roots; he then puts in the plant with the other, and pushes the earth to its 

 roots with the back of the planter; after which, he fixes the plant, and levels the 

 soil at the same instant with his foot : so that the operation is performed by one per- 

 son, with a degree of neatness and expedition which no one can attain to who uses 

 the spade. It is known to all planters, that but few laborers ever learn to plant 

 well and expeditiously in the common method, without an assistant: this method, 

 however, requires neither help nor dexterity ; as any laborer of common sagacity, or 

 boy of fifteen, or even a woman, may learn to perform it well in less than half an 

 hour. The facility with which these tools will break clods, clear the holes of stones, 

 or separate the soil from herbage, the roots of heath, &c. (the former being previ- 

 ously mellowed by the frost), may be easily imagined." {Prof Plant. 173.) The 

 adoption of a small mattock for inserting plants, we recollect to have seen recom- 

 mended in a tract on planting in the Highlands, by M'Laurin, a nurseryman, pub- 

 lished at Edinburgh upwards of twenty years ago. 



3668. An expeditious mode of slit planting is described in the General Report of Scot- 

 land, as having been practised for many years on the duke of Montrose's estate. 

 It is as follows : " The operator, with his spade, makes three cuts, twelve or fifteen 

 inches long, crossing each other in the centre, at an angle of sixty degrees, the whole 

 having the form of a star. {fig. 456. ) He inserts his spade across one 456 



of the rays (a), a few inches from the centre, and on the side next 



himself; then bending the handle towards himself, and almost to the 



ground, the earth opening in fissures from the centre in the direction 



of the cuts which had been made, he, at the same instant, inserts his 



plant at the point where the spade intersected the ray (o), pushing it 



forward to the centre, and assisting the roots in rambling through the 



fissures. He then lets down the earth by removing his spade, having pressed it into 



a compact state with his heel ; the operation is finished by adding a little earth, with the 



grass side down, completely covering the fissures, for the purpose of retaining the 



moisture at the root, and likpwise as a top-dressing, which greatly encourages the plant 



to pusli fresh roots between the swards." (Vol. ii. p. 283.) 



Pp 



