FRUITS, 155 



chards totally ruined at first by careless planting. In some, 

 the trees lying to one side just as chance or the wind made 

 them : in others, the trees hard-looking and bark-bound by 

 deep planting. The former is sheer neglect in securing the 

 tree to a stake ; the latter, misapplied care. Writers on the 

 subject say, " Dig a pit eighteen inches or two feet deep, and 

 fill it up with rich compost ; plant the tree therein one or two 

 inches deeper than it was in the nursery row." This looks very 

 Yv'ell, but when applied it proves a grave to thousands. In the first 

 place, the hole is much too deep : the soil, being all loose and 

 fresh, decomposes, and falls down a few inches, taking the tree 

 with it, so that in two years (just when the tree should put 

 forth luxuriantly) it falls into the pit prepared for it, never to 

 recover. Dig the pit or hole fully one foot deep, and three or 

 four feet wide ; break and prepare the soil well, in which place 

 on its top your tree, over which lay a load of well prepared 

 soil, sufiicient to cover the roots entirely. Place a strong sup- 

 port to the tree, to prevent the wind disturbing the roots. 

 The soil will settle, but not so as to take the roots of the tree 

 into a tub of clay ; they will always be on the surface, where 

 nature intended them. As the tree will now rely on the new. 

 vigorous fibres, which will be produced in its new station, if 

 the soil be fine, moist, and warmed by the sun's influence, no 

 fears need be entertained but that they will come forth to 

 carry on the growth of the plant. Many trees have to be pro- 

 cured from a distance, perhaps thousands of miles. If nursery 

 trees, they are generally ])(ick^d in bundles, — packed is perhaps 

 too business-like an expression, — they are tied like a bundle of 

 fuel for the kitchen. Trees that have to be sent a great dis- 

 tance should be packed in boxes. The purchaser had bet- 

 ter pay twice the cost of such, to have it done, as they are fre- 

 quently as dry as rods when they come to hand. In such a 

 case, have the trees soaked in water a few hours, and cover 

 them up in wet straw or hay for twelve hours more ; then 

 puddle their roots in earth made to the consistency of thin 



