44 FINANCE AND PLANTING METHODS 



(b) Notching. — Notching with the heavy wedge- 

 shaped spades which may be regarded as glorified 

 dibbhng pegs or irons is undertaken in a similar 

 fashion to that already described above. A larger 

 wedge-shaped hole is made and therefore a larger plant 

 can be made use of ; but even here the plant should 

 not possess large side roots, as these will be doubled up 

 against the walls of the hole and arrest the develop- 

 ment of the young tree and of its root system. 



The common notch planting in force throughout 

 this country is done, however, with an ordinary spade. 

 Conifers up to four years of age are " notched in " by 

 methods which only differ in the shape of the notch, 

 and are one and all equally pernicious. The methods are 

 as follows : The common spade is used to make a notch 

 in the ground of one or other of the following shapes : 



-r notch. — The spade is inserted perpendicularly 



first at A and then at B ; the blade is kept in at 

 B and the handle pressed downwards so as to raise 

 the turf, with the result that A opens out. The 

 plant is then inserted in the opening at the top 

 of the blade of the spade and slipped along \mtil it 

 reaches the foot of the T. The spade is then removed, 

 the turf being pressed down with the foot so as to close 

 up again in a natural manner. 



Double X notch. In this the vertical hmb of the 

 T is divided into two by another horizontal cut. 

 In other respects the method is the same as the one 

 already described. 



H notch. — This is only a modification of the T 

 notch. 



