PLANTING. 



365 



frost, or rather to prevent the escape of heat, 

 and lessen the evaporation of the moisture from 

 the soil, and hence to preserve the roots from 

 suffering from drought. Mulching with rich 

 manure is injurious, unless in the case of vines 

 or trees requiring greater stimulus than the soil 

 affords. 



Shalloii) transplanting. — Deep planting is one 

 of the greatest evils to vvhich trees, particularly 

 fruit-bearing ones, are subject. No tree should 

 be planted deeper than it formerly grew, as its 

 roots are stifled from the want of air, or starved 

 by the poverty of the soil at the depth at which 

 they are placed. It is much the better and more 

 natural process, in fact, to plant the tree so that 

 it shall, when the whole is complete, appear just 

 as deep as before, but standing on a little mound 

 2 or ij inches higher than the level of the ground 

 about. This, when the ground settles, will leave 

 it nearly level with the previous surface. " I 

 advise," says Harrison, " that the roots of fruit 

 trees against a wall be not planted more than 6 

 inches deep, and plant nearer the surface than 

 6 inches in wet heavy soils, and deeper in those 

 that are lighter." 



" Nothing is more common than too deep 

 planting, and the temptation to it is greater, be- 

 cause deep-planted plants, from having their 

 roots more accessible to moisture, are more cer- 

 tain of growing the first year, and are less in 

 waut of mulching to exclude the heat and 

 drought, and of staking to prevent them from 

 being moved by the wind." Deep planting, by 

 placing the roots almost beyond the reach of 

 solar influence, retards the growth in spring, 

 and continues it so late in autumn that the jwood 

 and buds are seldom properly ripened : there- 

 fore in cold and wet climates deep planting 

 should be avoided, as tending greatly to increase 

 the evils such climates are known to possess. 

 There are some plants of a herbaceous character 

 which do not suffer from deep planting, of which 

 tlie horse-radish may be given as an example ; 

 the majority, however, do suffer, and shrubs and 

 trees in an especial degree. This fact, although 

 long known, appears never to have been phy- 

 siologically or satisfactorily explained. In trac- 

 ing the analogy which exists between vegetables 

 and animals, the evil of deep planting has its 

 counterpart in the injury that may be inflicted 

 upon the latter by wantonly or accidentally 

 causing damage to be done their most vital 

 parts. All vertebrate animals may be deprived 

 of existence, if serious injury be done to that 

 part at the back of the neck between the spinal 

 marrow and the brain ; and the same fatal con- 

 sequences will follow in a plant if injured at 

 that part which connects the root and stem, 

 which is the part of all others the most suscep- 

 tible to injury, and is called the neck or collar of 

 the plant. If a seedling plant be cut over at 

 that point, the root immediately dies; but when 

 a tree and most herbaceous plants have attained 

 a certain age, this is less likely to happen, in 

 consequence of their being then furnished at 

 that point with adventitious buds, which, should 

 the tree be cut over, are called into action, and 

 throw up shoots or suckers ; but if the collar be 

 cut through, no such action can take place. Deep 

 VOL. II. 



planting produces a similar fatal result, although 

 not so instantaneously ; and hence the unhealthy 

 and ultimate death of aU trees either planted 

 too deep or having earth heaped over the roots, 

 and thus burying the collar or vital part. This 

 part also is so sensitive as to be more readily 

 injured by cold than any other part of the plant; 

 hence the necessity of protecting half-hardy 

 plants by covering it during winter. To this 

 reference will be often made in speaking of 

 the protection of half-hardy plants, trees, and 

 shrubs. 



Transplanting on raised hillocks. — Many excel- 

 lent cultivators, with a view to keep the roots 

 of their trees, more especially fruit-bearing ones, 

 near the surface, that they may be within the 

 reach of solar influence, and often to prevent 

 their entering into a bad subsoil, plant on raised 

 mounds or hillocks. In this, so far as fruit 

 trees are concerned, and also where the soil is 

 damp naturally, or rendered so by a wet climate, 

 they do well, because it is the most economical 

 way of finding a good substitute for a bad soil, 

 and in many situations it is wise to have recourse 

 to it. This need not, however, be carried any 

 further than to set the roots upon the natural 

 level of the surface, covering them sufliciently 

 with good soil, which will, for aU ordinary pur- 

 poses, be found sufficient. 



No man has had greater experience, or has 

 succeeded better, in the removal of trees, than 

 Mr Barron of Elveston. On the advantages of 

 mound or hillock planting he says, in " The Brit- 

 ish Winter Garden," p. 37 — " Much advantage 

 would be gained in every way by placing the 

 tree on the surface of the ground, and by add- 

 ing soil for the roots to be planted in. By this 

 means the roots, instead of being cramped in a 

 pit, and arriving speedily at the subsoil, have 

 the depth of the natural soil to sport in, besides 

 the free access of the air (so essential) being 

 secured. The trees, when planted, have on this 

 plan the appearance of being placed on raised 

 bases, and in this way height is gained." This 

 opinion is founded on sound practical expe- 

 rience. The physiological reasoning by Dr Lind- 

 ley, in " Introduction to Botany," vol. ii. p. 181, 

 given below, confirms the above, and proves to 

 us the advantage of mound planting, by reason 

 of its enabling us to add with so little trouble 

 to the extent of the pasturage of the roots, if 

 the object aimed at be bulk of timber or size of 

 shrub, as well as circumscribing the range of 

 the roots, keeping them from penetrating a bad 

 subsoil, and above all elevating the temperature 

 around them, if the object be healthy and pro- 

 ductive fruit-trees. " It is generally believed 

 that roots increase only by their extremities, 

 and that, once formed, they never undergo any 

 subsequent elongation. This was first noticed 

 by Duhamel. Variations in this experiment, 

 which has also been repeated by Knight, pro- 

 duced the same result ; and the whole pheno- 

 mena appears to be one of those beautifiil evi- 

 dences of design which are so common in the 

 vegetable kingdom. If plants, growing in a 

 medium of unequal resistance, lengthened 

 by an extension of their whole surface, the 

 nature of the medium in which they grow 



3 A 



