Shallow Planting of Trees ; Merits of 

 tlie Practice. 



BY WILLIAM BRIGHT. 



It has been our custom for many years, in planting 

 trees of all kinds — evergreens, ornamental and fruit 

 trees — to set them as near the surface of the ground as 

 possible, often exciting much alarm for the safety of the 

 trees in the minds of anxious amateurs, and much con- 

 tempt on the part of incipient gardeners, for the seem- 

 ing absurdity of the practice. But having somehow 

 got the idea into our head that this method of planting 

 trees was the true natural method, we obstinately per- 

 severed in it, and now, after more than ten years' expe- 

 rience in the practice, it has grown into a settled system 

 with us, and we have begun to find out the reasons why 

 it is really the best and most judicious plan of planting 

 trees. 



In transplanting good specimens of evergreens, we 

 usually endeavor to lift them with a ball of earth at- 

 tached to the roots, fifteen or eighteen inches deep, and 

 two feet or more in diameter. For such a tree, we make 

 a hole only four inches deep, setting it, in fact almost 



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