TRENCH AXr> MOUNT; T'T.AN'TIXO. 31.J 



ARTICLE 6. 

 TRENCH PLANTING. 



PREPARATION OF THE GROUND. The trenches are prepared in 

 the same way and with the same tools as trenches for sowing but 

 of course considerably deeper. As in pit planting, the good top- 

 soil should be kept separate from the poorer excavated portions, 

 and that again separate from the stony elements. If necessary, 

 the soil at the bottom of the trenches may be loosened. 



PUTTING DOWN THE PLANTS. In the case of seedlings, the good 

 and next the inferior excavated soil should first be put back into 

 the trench, and the plants then put in, according to their size, 

 either with a dibber or a notching spade or in a fresh excavation 

 like a pit. Culms should of course be laid down flat, as already 

 described on page 210. Unpruned rods also may be put down in 

 the same manner, but will previously have to be notched at various 

 points to encourage the development of roots, and the extremity 

 will always stand out of the ground. Trenches may either be filled 

 up to the top or be only partially filled. 



VALUE AND EMPLOYMENT OF THE METHOD. Trench planting is 

 suited for dry porous soils and for localities where there is danger 

 from sun or frost. But as it is an extremely expensive method, its 

 employment must be confined to the reboisement of dry slopes 

 where sowing or other methods of planting would not yield 

 sufficiently quick results. For the same reason seedling material 

 should not exceed the dimensions of the lowest category of middle- 

 sized plants. 



The trenches also serve to catch and retain water coming down 

 from above, and if culms and other cuttings have been put down, 

 these form, with the shoots and roots that they develop, a single 

 compact mass which holds the soil together and also impedes a too 

 rapid subsurface drainage. 



ARTICLE 7. 

 MOUND PLANTING. 



PREPARATION OF THE MOUNDS. Each mound may be built up 

 directly with soil scraped or cut from the immediately surrounding 

 ground, or with soil specially prepared to suit the species to be 

 planted. The foot of the mound may be flush with the natural 

 surface of the ground, or the mound may be surrounded with an 

 excavation like a moat (Fig. 107), which, besides helping drainage, 

 necessarily adds to the size of the mound and thus reduces the 



