816 PLANTING, 



amount of earthwork. Or the mound may be built up in a 

 hollow (Fig. 108) in order to provide against drought. The 

 height of the mound above the natural surface of the ground 

 will seldom exceed two feet, but in very wet localities, where 

 also very high weeds grow, it may, if considerations of expense 

 allow, attain 3 and even 4 feet. 



Putting down the plants. If the mound is not too large, a 

 plant with naked roots may be put in by cutting the mound across 

 and inserting the roots between the two halves, which are then 

 at once brought together again. If the plants are large or have 

 a ball of earth round their roots, an excavation must be made 

 at the top of the mound to receive them, and the plants put in 

 without delay. Indeed, if the ball of earth is large, it may be 

 put down first and the mound then built up round it , as shown in 

 Fig. 109. 



To consoUdate the sides of the mounds they may be reveted 

 •with stones or covered with sods of turf. The sods should lae as 

 large as possible and cut in the shape of broad sectors of a circle; 

 and, in order to anticipate the inevitable shrinkage, they should 

 slightly overlap one another. 



Value and employment of the method. This is the most 

 expensive of all the various methods of planting, excepting per- 

 haps the ridge system (to be described lower down). Hence it 

 should be avoided outside the two following cases: — 



(i) WJien the soil is extremely wet and the cost of draining is 

 prohibitive. — In that case the mounds should be built up directly on 

 the natural surface of the ground, a surrounding moat if necessary, 

 being made in order to supply the whole or a great part of the 

 earth required to raise the mound as well as to diminish the 

 absolute height to be built up . The India rubber tree has often 

 been planted in this manner on mounds up to 4 feet high. The 

 position of the roots in the mound guarantees them against damp- 

 ing off, and they finally reach the wet natural soil only when the 

 entire plant has become strong, large and woody enough not to 

 suffer from the presence of excessive humidity. 



(ii) When the soil, although very wet and badly drained during 

 the rains, is otherwise dry. — In this case the mounds should be 

 built up in a hollow and their apex should hardly stand up above 

 the natural surface of the ground. The hollow surrounding the 

 mound will catch and retain water for the benefit of the plani in 

 the mound, which it will at the same time drain sufficiently for the 

 purposes of root-aeration. 



