ON PLANTING TREES, AND STAKING. 



Not very long ago, there was in a certain horticultural paper a notice, 

 " Never stake a tree; " which, in my opinion, deserves to be quoted at par 

 with the famous system of '■'■ puddling ; " that is, making a liquid puddle in the 

 hole in which the tree is to be planted, and sticking the tree therein. 



Can people be serious in advocating such a system ? I always thought 

 that the preparation of soil or earth, in about the way used by " puddlers," 

 belonged more to the brickmaker's or pottery line of business than to gar- 

 dening; although sometimes a gardener may have to perform the operation 

 with clay and water, to mend an oven or a flue in a greenhouse : but no one 

 can seriously believe in planting trees on that principle. 



In dry weather, trees may be planted with success after having had their 

 roots placed in a puddle : but the holes will have to be filled with a soil 

 rather dry than too wet ; and, even then, watering ought to be done with 

 some care, so as not to consolidate the soil. 



Puddling is an operation under which the natural mixture of the soil will 

 and must be altogether changed, by depositing at the bottom the heavy 

 parts, leaving the rich or lighter parts on the surface, where they will be of 



