PLANTING ON THE SOD. 41 



He adds in a note : 



Some plantations of Scotcb pine have done remarkably that were thus executed some 

 years ago in the forests of Tharand, under my direction, where there is occasionally 

 found a marshy place in which the subsoil of very compact clay is covered with quite 

 a bed of pure peat and a dense mat of moss. Here were conditions that seemed to 

 defy planting, lor drainage would dry the peat so as to render it completely sterile, and 

 a thorough preparation would be altogether too costly for the end in view. In these 

 cases the planting was executed as follows : The pines, 5 and G feet high, with consider- 

 able balls on the roots, were set directly upon the moss, and around them was heaped a 

 little mound of moss, peat, and clay. This was done irregularly, without attempting 

 symmetry of lines or spaces. The success exceeded all expectation until 1834, when it 

 suffered i'rom the winds. 



From this time forward the practice was followed by Cot ta's. pupils in 

 different forests of Saxony under circumstances similar to the above ; 

 but it is particularly to Mr. Grosser, chief of the cantonment of Bors- 

 tendorf, that the method received careful study, and it has since come 

 into general use where the conditions for which it is chiefly proper are 

 found prevailing. In a single district in Germany, between 1838 and 

 1853, over six millions of trees were started in tliis manner, and with 

 scarcely a failure. For this mode of planting it is important that the 

 roots be spread out, and that there should be no tap-root. An abun- 

 dance of spreading roots is favored in the nurseries, by covering the sur- 

 face with rich manures, and by cutting off the central root at the time 

 of first transplanting. By covering the surface between the rows of 

 plants as soon as they are out of the ground, keeping them in place by a 

 little soil, and watering from time to time, we secure in a great measure 

 this end. The leaves prevent evaporation, are slow conductors of heat, 

 hinder the growth of grass, and by gradual decay furnish the pabulum 

 most needed by the young i)lant. 



Surface planting is particularly adapted to the resinous species and 

 to marshy soil. It is claimed by the Baron Manteuflel,^ a German 

 writer, who is the especial advocate of this mode of planting, that the 

 fermentation and decay of the herbaceous materials so covered, furnish 

 aliment in the form most needed by the root fibers ; that some degree 

 of heat and moisture result from these conditions; and that, in short, 

 the roots take hold in the soil sooner and grow more vigorously than 

 when they are set in a shallow pit, as in the common mode of ])lanting. 

 A series of experiments made by Professor Stceckhardt, of Tharandt, 

 with the view of determining the chemical and thermic conditions of 

 this planting, resulted as follows :^ 



1. The mounds, especially in dry weather, retained for a longer time the heat 

 absorbed by day and cooled more slowly at night than the flat surfaces adjacent. 



2. The loss of moisture from daily evaporation was less from the mounds than from 

 the sodded surface, and this difference was more marked in drought than in humid 

 weather. 



3. The amount of carbonic acid gas disengaged in the interior of the mounds was 

 greater than that from the neighboring soil, indicating the decomposition going on. 

 within. 



No appreciable amount of ammonia was observed to escape. 



ADVICE OF MR. GREELEY WITH REFERENCE TO TREE-PLANTING. 



The founder of the New York Tribune, took frequent occasion to urge 

 with voice and pen the practical importance of tree-planting, not only 



1 L'Art de Planter, by le Baron H. E. do Manteuffel. Translated by C. Gaiiet, 1874, 

 p. 7. 



2 " L'Arl de Planter," p. 36. 



