ILLUSTRATED GUIDE. 113 



ground, two or three inches only being left bare, and 

 the soil is well trodden round it. 



Cuttings should not be made from too large branches 

 Some trees, at first, thrive well for a time after being 

 set as cuttings, but in a few years they die without any 

 apparent reason. Can the too great thickness of the 

 cuttings be the real cause of the tree's premature decay ? 

 As thus : the end out of ground dries up ; the buried end 

 has only put forth roots near the surface and the tree 

 forms branches at the foot only ; and so exposed, the one 

 to the air and the other to the damp, the two ends 

 perish, become decomposed, and, while the tree appears 

 to be doing well, it, in reality, is becoming hollow 

 through the rotting of its two extremities, and the time 

 is near when decomposition will attack the vital parts, 

 and the end of the tree's life is at hand. 



It is a good plan to set a cutting of poplar or willow 

 between every other plant of walnut, oak, chesnut, or 

 hickory, in the permanent plantation. An early shade 

 will be thus afforded to the young plants, and the inva- 

 sion of weeds repressed. When, at the end of five or six 

 years, the walnuts, etc., can take care of themselves, the 

 willows and poplars, which by that time will have 

 become serviceable as summer fuel, may be remojred. 



CHAPTEE XV. 



FINAL PLANTING OUT. 



This is the best way of preparing the land which you 

 intend to plant : — 



A year before the planting is to begin,manure the site 

 and grow a crop of grain. After harvest, give the land 

 a deep furrow and a cross-ploughing in the spring. This 

 is particularly necessary in breaking up those parts of 



