CHAPTER II. 



PREPARING GROUND FOR PLANTING. 



THE first consideration is, how to prepare the ground 

 for receiving the plants, apart from draining and drying 

 it. One common and efficient way with heath and 

 rough moorland is to take the opportunity, when the 

 ground is dry, to burn it. By law, no moor-burning 

 can be done between April 11 and November 1, so 

 that any other time of the year may be taken advan- 

 tage of when the herbage is dry. The best time usu- 

 ally is in February, March, and the beginning of April. 

 A slight breeze is desirable ; but this is not so import- 

 ant as that the ground be perfectly dry, so that the 

 moss may be all thoroughly consumed. When heath- 

 land has to be dealt with, it should be burned three 

 or four years previous to planting, in order that some 

 herbage may be again grown up to protect the plants, 

 not so much from the winds simply as from snow- 

 drift, and their natural enemies black-game. I have 

 always found trees grow best in heath from 4 to 6 

 inches high, the plants themselves being from 8 to 

 10 inches when planted. 



Herbage other than heath should be cut once a-year 

 till the plants are fairly above it ; and it should be 

 borne in mind that the lateral branches suffer even more 



