HS Suggestions for the Improvement 



by those who plant single trees or scattered groups for orna- 

 ment. 



5. A plan of the gardens, on a large scale, with the situation 

 of every existing tree marked on it, ought to be made out; 

 and on this plan the situation of all the pits for the proposed 

 new trees ought to be marked, and the kinds of trees to be 

 planted in them determined, before a single pit is dug. Each 

 pit ought to be numbered on the plan, and to each number a 

 page in a small 8vo book ought to be devoted. In each page, 

 the superintendent will insert the history, or journal, of the pit, 

 and of the tree planted in it; which, of course, can only be done 

 as the work is performed, and in the course of several years. 

 The first record will be of the price contracted to be paid for 

 digging out the soil of the pit ; the next, for removing a certain 

 proportion of the worst of this soil ; the next, for supplying the 

 requisite portion of good soil ; the next, for mixing the soils 

 together on the outside of the pit; the next, for throwing the 

 soil in, and so on ; including the purchase of the tree to be 

 planted ; its name, which ought to be written on the plan, as 

 well as on the top of the page containing its number in the 8vo 

 book; the date of planting, fencing, mulching, &c. In the 

 execution of the operations, we would have them all subdivided 

 as much as possible, and all of them, except the planting of 

 the trees, executed by separate contracts, and not by day work ; 

 while, after the execution of every particular operation, the 

 superintendent should ascertain that it had been properly per- 

 formed. Thus, after the soil was thrown out of the pit, before 

 proceeding to separate the bad soil from the good, the pit 

 should be examined, to ascertain that it had been dug to the 

 proper depth, &c. Then, again, after the bad soil was sepa- 

 rated from the good into a heap or heaps by itself, before being 

 taken away, these heaps ought to be examined, and the point 

 determined, whether or not the proportion of bad soil had been 

 separated, or not, and so on. If the pits were let to be dugout, 

 the bad soil taken away and good brought, mixed, and filled in 

 again, at so much, the work, in most cases, would not be half 

 done, and the result contemplated would not be attained. On 

 the other hand, if the operations were executed by day work, 

 they would be more expensive and tedious in the performance ; 

 and, besides, as a general principle in the execution of all kinds 

 of work, whether of the hands or of the head, nothing ought to 

 be done by the day that can be done by estimate. Day work, 

 even in common labourers, has a tendency to check all exertion, 

 and reduce the man of strength and skill to the level of him who 

 has very little of either. 



6. The mud taken out of the canal in Kensington Gardens, 

 and recently used in filling up the old gravel pit near the Bays- 



