TEEE CULTURE IN SOUTH AUSTEALIA. 29 



days until a convenient time arrives to plant them. I know of a case 

 in the north where plants were allowed to lie in the verandah for a fort- 

 night, with their roots all exposed, and then planted. The result, of 

 course, was nil. 



As soon as purchased plants arrive home, have them sheughed, or laid 

 in a nice cool and moist spot in the garden or plantation. If they are 

 in bundles, undo them, and spread the plants out singly, and carefully 

 cover all the roots with weU-pulverised soil. Should the weather be dry, 

 give a good watering. Plants in pots may be kept in the boxes, and kept 

 moist until they are required. 



Where the plants are grown by the planter himself, there is less risk 

 of danger from exposure, as they can be lifted and taken to the planta- 

 tion in such numbers and at such times only as may be found most conve- 

 nient. Under such circumstances, it is best and safest to lift in the 

 morning, and take out to the plantation only as many as may be required 

 for that day's planting. On arrival at plantation, the deciduous trees 

 should be laid in the ground, and the plants in pots kept in the boxes, 

 and taken out as they are required. 



A good plan with trees which are grown in the open ground is, to dip 

 their roots in a puddle of earth-and- water immediately they are lifted. 

 This prevents the air taking an injurious effect upon the small and tender 

 spongioles of the rootlets, and I have, therefore, strongly to recommend 

 its general adoption in this country. I shall ref^ to this operation 

 afterwards in these pages as that of puddling. 



I now come to advise as to how the trees should be planted. In 

 doing this, it wiU be necessary to refer to open-root plants, plants in 

 bamboo tubes, plants in pots, and sowing the seed in the plantation, 

 each separately. 



In planting, it is always necessary for two persons to be at tlie operation 

 — say a man and a lad ; the lad to hold the plant, and the man to fill in 

 the soil and see to the roots. It is, of course, understood that the holes 

 have been already opened in accordance with the directions given. 



First, then, in regard to the planting of trees which have been grown 

 in the open ground in the nursery. It is understood that these are, as a 

 rule, strong plants, and that they have been raised with all their roots 

 attached. Should the hole be too deep for the plant, fill in some of the good 

 soft mould which wiU generally be found on the surface of the ground. 

 When of the required depth, the boy wiU. then hold the plant erect in 

 the centre of the hole, while the man spreads out the roots and fibres of 

 the plant with his hands and fills in the top mould which had been 

 removed from the hole. Should there be layers of roots, it will be 

 necessary to cover them up separately, beginning, of course, with the 

 lowest and taking the others in rotation. In Fig, 3 I show a young tree, 

 with four layers of roots, being planted, and at that stage when the hole 

 is half-filled up. While the lowest tier is being covered with the soil, 

 the others should be held carefully up with the hand and only released 

 as the soil comes up to their levels. As this operation goes on, the boy 

 should move the plant gently up and down, so as to settle the soil about 

 the roots, but this should be discontinued when about a third of the 



