io DECORATIVE PLANTS, TREES AND SHRUBS 



clay sub-soil is best avoided, for it is not conducive to warmth. The 

 sluggish drainage it causes is bad for cuttings, which feel much more 

 comfortable and do far better when the sub-soil is gravel or chalk. 

 We do not go the length of asking that this cutting ground should 

 be regularly trenched ; but this should be done when the ground 

 is first made, after which deep digging is all that is required. 

 Cuttings are often put in to the depth of 9 inches, and it is necessary 

 to break up the soil from 12 to 15 inches. 



Do cuttings need manure ? No ; but if the same ground is being 

 used year after year, potatoes or some other manured crop should be 

 grown every fourth year, so it is not a bad plan to make the ground 

 of sufficient size and to plant one-fourth of it each year, in rotation, 

 with a suitable crop and so get it back into " heart." 



