DEEP TILLAGE. 119 



We have transplanted successfully hundreds of one of the 

 most superficial growers of the forest, the hemlock spruce, 

 {Abies canadensis,) setting them three inches or more deeper 

 than we found them, or sufficiently so as to smother the grass ta- 

 ken up with the trees. The common laurel, (Kalmia hit if alia.) 

 with which most people fail of success, has succeeded entirely 

 planted in trenched ground. These were taken from very poor, 

 sandy soil, where the roots ran near the surface, and planted 

 three inches deeper. 



The farmer may boast of his natural soil, wet or shallow, 

 and trifle with the idea of an artificial one, or the benefits of 

 science. The sage nursery-man may direct to plant the tree 

 only as deep as natural, and in similar soil, heedless of the fact 

 that cultivation gives a second nature. With this word nature, 

 however, and its advocates, we have but little sympathy. What 

 was ever more fortuitous than the formation of soil on the face 

 of the earth, or the lodgment of seeds of the vegetable king- 

 dom ? Cultivation is artificial ; and the more art directed by 

 science, the greater the success. The progressive cultivator is 

 not to inquire what Nature does without the means to do with, 

 but what can, or rather what cannot, art accomplish with the 

 help of science, vegetable physiology, observation, and practical 

 experience. We have taken great pains to obtain peaty soil 

 for rhododendrons and other shrubs for which peat has been 

 recommended ; but all grow equally well planted deep in 

 trenched garden soil. We are therefore not an advocate for 

 special soils so much as for special tillage and manures. 



The constitution and habits of all kinds of vegetation are 

 not very dissimilar. Why, then, should celery alone among 

 vegetables be cultivated in rich soil, trenched from two to 

 three feet deep, and its roots half that depth below the surface 

 for a long time, not only with impunity, but with the most 

 thrifty growth ? This is done ostensibly for bleaching ; but 

 who can fail to see the manifest good from its deep culture ? 

 What is this vegetable by nature, or in its natural soil ? Why 

 should the pear, and that only on the quince, be planted so 

 deep as to throw out roots from its own stock, and for that 

 purpose merely ? Is any tree more thrifty than this, thus 

 planted in rich, trenched soil ? What is the native by the side 



