276 Landscape Gardening 



which admits of their being accompanied with balls of earth 

 about the roots, these should always be kept. The ends of 

 the roots must not be cut off close to the ball, but should be 

 carefully taken out with a fork and the outside of the ball 

 be left loose and guarded against every kind of compression. 

 Where the roots become bruised or injured, they must be 

 pruned and the jagged ends made smooth. The soil should 

 be shaken very lightly among them and pressed under the 

 ball by means of a blunt stick that no cavities may be left 

 there. If the weather be ordinarily moist and the period 

 be late autumn no watering of any kind will be necessary. 

 But a thorough soaking with water will sometimes be useful 

 in spring planting, and a subsequent mulching with grass 

 mowings, manure, or litter will generally be found of service 

 in dry summers. 



It is always safest to plant pretty thickly, for where the 

 climate or the prevailing winds are not so severe as to demand 

 this precaution, the better kinds of plants invariably grow 

 stronger and faster for having a little shelter, provided this 

 does not rob them of light and air or produce deformity, 

 and is not continued too long. All the best plants and the 

 larger specimens should, however, first be put in a plan- 

 tation, the intermediate parts being made up of commoner 

 things and such as can easily be taken or cut out the moment 

 they begin to do harm. The rule among modern park plant- 

 ers is, "plant thick, thin quick," — and it is a good rule. 



If large plants be used to break the outline of a young 

 plantation, they should not be left to stand alone and unsup- 

 ported, but be at least partially and irregularly surrounded 

 with middle-sized plants of different heights, to relieve their 

 solitariness and the abruptness of outline, and also to shel- 

 ter them a little from the action of winds and shade their 

 roots somewhat from the drying influences of sun and air. 



