l66 FOREST PLANTATIONS. {Jan. 



plant perfectly uptight, an inch deeper than when 

 it flood in the nurfery, and holds it firm in that 

 pofition. The man trindles in the mould gently. 

 The boy gently moves the plant, not from fide to 

 fide, but upwards and downwards, until the fi- 

 bres be covered. The man then fills in all the 

 remaining mould ; arid immediately proceeds to 

 chop and poach the next pit, leaving the boy to 

 fet the plant upright, and to tread the mould a- 

 bout it. This, in ftiff> wet foil, he does lightly ; 

 but in fandy or gravelly foil, he continues to tread 

 until the foil no longer retains the impreflion of 

 his foot. The man has by this time got the pit 

 ready for the next plant : the boy is alfo ready 

 with it in his hand j and in this manner the oper- 

 ation goes on. 



In all cafes 'where the land has been prepared? 

 whether by pitting, ploughing and pitting, or 

 ploughing and harrowing, the above practice 

 ought invariably to be adhered to. 



It borders on abfurdity to pretend to plant, by 

 making, a gam, in tilled ground perhaps, and 

 thrufting in the roots by force ; and this, after all, 

 is probably attended with more trouble than the 

 taking out a fpadeful of the earth, and inferting 

 the plant in fuch a manner, as . that the mould 

 may be intimately mixed with its fibres, a mat- 

 ter of the mod evident utility and benefit, whe- 

 ther confidered as enabling the fibrils more rea- 



