640 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. 



more moist, or damp parts, in February or March. It must be observed, however, that 

 if the ground be not in a proper case for planting, the operation had better be delayed. 

 The plants will be injured, either by being committed to the ground when it is in a sour 

 and wet, or in a dry parched, state. At a time when the soil is neither wet nor dry, 

 the operation of planting is most successfully performed. The mould does not then ad- 

 here to the spade, nor does it run in ; it divides well, and is made to intermingle with the 

 fibres of the plants with little trouble ; and in treading and setting the plant upright, the 

 soil is not worked into mortar, which it necessarily mvist be, if in a wet state, evidently to 

 the great detriment of the plants. It is therefore improper to plant on a retentive soil in 

 the time of rain, or even perhaps for sOme days afterwards, or after a fall of snow, until 

 it has for some days disappeared. Whereas, in a dry absorbent soil, it may be proper to 

 plant in the time of gentle showers, immediately after heavy rains, or as soon as the snow 

 is dissolved." {Plant. Kal. 157.) 



' 3938. Ponteij is a decided advocate for autumn preparation of the soil, and spring planting. " Autumn 

 planting," he says, " is advisable only in few cases, while spring planting may properly apply to all." 

 . 3939. According to Sang, the proper time for planting the pine and fir tribes, and all evergreens, is 

 April, or even the first fortnight in May. " Attention should he paid, that no greater number of plants 

 be lifted from the nursery than can be conveniently planted on the same day. Damp weather is the best. 

 When very dry, and the plants rise destitute of earth at their roots, their roots should be dipped in mud 

 (puddle) so as to be coated over by it. In all cases, care should be taken not to shake off any adhering 

 earth from plants at the time of planting." {Plant, Kal. 341.) 



39t0. A puddle for trees is made by mixing water with any soil rather tenacious, so intimately as to 

 form a complete puddle, so thick that when the plants are dijiped 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 than it otherwise would be. It is an old invention, and hence 

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

 spring planting, Pontey believes the prejudice in favour of autumn practice would soon be done away. 

 (^Prof. Plant. 167.) 



3941. Cohhctt prefers spring planting. " It is a great error," he says, " to suppose that you gain time 

 by autumnal or winter planting. You do, indeed, see the buds come out a little more early in the spring ; 

 but it is theefFect at the end, and not at the beginning, of the summer, at which you ought to look. If you 

 plant in the autumn or winter, the plants get blown about for several months, and, in very wet weather, 

 their stems work a sort of hole round themselves ; and thus the root itself is shaken ; and if left thus, they 

 will, by March, be generally leaning on one side, with the hole open on the other side ; and when the 

 harsh winds of March come upon the long-time battered ground, it will present a surface nearly as hard 

 as a road. In such a case, the ground ought to be dug or spaded up between the trees in March or in 

 April ; for nothing can thrive well in ground thus baked, however good the ground may be in its nature." 

 (TAe Woodlands, 44.) 



3942. Pruning previously to planting. If the plants have been brought from a distance, and the 

 fibrous roots are dried up, they should all be cut off, because, like the leaves of a tree which has been taken 

 up in the growing state and become withered, they have lost their vitality. The larger fibres, which are 

 only dead at the points, should be shortened. The tap-root, also, should be shorteneds perhaps in most 

 cases two thirds of its length. Cobbett observes, and with truth, as far as our experience goes, that if 

 the longest tap-roots " were put into the ground at full length with an iron bar, they would be sure to 

 die all the way nearly up to the top." {Woodlands, 68.) Many trees, however, have no tap-roots, and 

 these only require attention to the fibres. When the plants are newly taken up from the seed-bed, or 

 nursery lines, they may be planted without cutting off the fibres j because these will retain their vitality 

 uninjured. 



3943. The operation of imerting the plants in the soil is performed in various ways ; 

 the most general mode, and that recommended by Marshal and Nicol, is pitting ; in 

 which two persons are employed, one to operate on the soil with the spade, and the other 

 to insert the plant and hold it till the earth is put round it, and then press down the soil 

 with the foot. Where the plants are three feet high or upwards, this is the best mode ; 

 but for smaller plants modes have been adopted in which one person ))erforms the whole 

 operation. This method of planting by pitting is what Withers calls the Scotch system, 

 but which Sir Henry Steuart has shown {Planters Guide, 2d edit. p. 468.) is not peculiar 

 to Scotland, but is common in every country where trees are cultivated. 



3944. Sang describes five kinds of manual operation employed by him in planting, and 

 in part in sowing trees : by pitting ; by slitting simply, or by cross or T slitting ; by the dia- 

 mond dibber ; by the planting-mattock ; and by the planter or ground adze. In filling an 

 area with plants, he first plants those intended as the final trees, and afterwards the nurses ; 

 or one set of operators plant the former, while another follow with the latter, unless the 

 time for removing the nurses, as in the case of evergreen pines and firs, should be later 

 than that for planting the principals. " The plants, if brought from a distance, should be 

 shoughed, i. e. earthed in ; or they may be supplied daily from the nursery, as circumstances 

 direct. All the people employed ought to be provided with thick aprons, in which to 

 lap up the plants, the spadesmen, as well as the boys or girls; the latter being supplied 

 by the former as occasion may require. All of them should regularly fill their aprons 

 at one time, to prevent any of the plants being too long retained in any of the planters' 

 aprons. One man cannot possibly set a plant so well with the spade, unless in the case of 

 luying, as two people can ; nor, supposing him to do it as well, can he plant half as 

 many in the same space of time as two can. A boy ten years of age is equal, as a 

 holder, to the best man on the field, and can be generally had for less than half 

 the money. Hence this method is not only the best, but the least expensive." {Plant. 

 Kal. 167.) 



