544 Cultivation of Plants. 
in the ground in respect of root and stem. For by far the 
greater number of species this condition is essential to produce 
healthy flourishing trees. Certain trees, it is true, such as 
many Poplars and Willows, will succeed if subjected to the 
roughest usage in planting, but these are species which readily 
produce roots from any portion of their stems. It is a well- 
known fact that large Willow poles will strike root if thrust into 
the ground where there is sufficient moisture. But deep 
planting is one of the principal causes of stunted growth, early 
decay, and even death itself; sometimes it happens through 
inadvertence, but very often to save the trouble of securing a 
tree in its proper position by means of stakes and other appli- 
ances. It may seem almost incredible that a man should plant 
a tree a foot deeper than it ought to be in order to make it 
stand firmly, but it is so; and frequently the roots are treated 
with as little respect as the stem. In the first place, they are 
carelessly mutilated in lifting a tree, then exposed to drying 
wind for several hours perhaps, and finally bruised and crushed 
by the barbarous practice of stamping the earth down upon 
them with heavy nailed boots. Probably the tree may grow in 
spite of all this ill-treatment ; but it cannot be doubted that it 
would flourish much better if the work of transplanting were 
carefully and skilfully performed. 
The losses and disappointments occasioned by inattention in 
planting exceed all others put together. A tree is not so much 
injured by not being planted quite so deep as it would naturally 
he, as it is by being planted too deep. The points from whence 
the roots are given off, or where the root begins, should be 
barely covered, and when large holes are dug and refilled with 
mould, this should be allowed to settle down before the tree is 
planted, or the tree should be planted considerably above the 
surrounding soil, to allow for a certain amount of subsidence. 
Every root should be secured, not exposed to the air or sun 
longer than is possible, and carefully spread out in replantine. 
The soil should be gradually filled in, and where pressure is 
necessary it should be gentle and with plenty of soil between 
the foot and the roots. When once planted, a tree should be 
immediately fixed in its proper place by means of stakes and 
soft bandages; or if large, wires with india-rubber rings from 
some point above the middle of the stem, stretched outwards 
and fixed to dwarf stumps. Ligatures should never be too tight 
when first put on, and to prevent a tree from being permanently 
