PLANTING. 



157 



some earth away a little distance all round the tree to a consi- 

 derable depth, and nearly let it tumble down of itself ; for if you 

 pull you break a root ; and if that root be large, and break off near 

 the stem of the tree, the tree will have a bad root, and will never 

 grow finely. Having taken the tree fairly out of the ground, you 

 begin by pruning the root. All the larger shoots of the roots you 

 cut off to within six inches of the stem, and you take entirely out 

 all the hairy fibres ; for they never grow again, and they are apt to 

 mould and to keep the earth from closely touching the roots out of 

 which the new shoots are to come. Having pruned the root, you 

 proceed to plant the tree. The hole must be much deeper and 

 wider than is required for the mere reception of the root. The 

 earth ought to be broken very finely at the bottom of the hole. 

 When that is done, the root of the tree ought to be placed upon it 

 in such a manner as for the tree to stand about an inch higher 

 above the ground than it stood before it was removed. If the tree 

 be to be placed against a wall, the head should lean gently against 

 the wall, and the bottom of the trunk about eight or ten inches 

 from it : if the ttee be to be planted in the open ground, the trunk 

 should be held perfectly upright : while thus held, very fine earth 

 should be put upon the roots : if it were sifted, so much the 

 better : the tree should be joggled or shaken a little, to cause the 

 earth to go down in and amongst the roots and fill up all the 

 cavities, so that the fine earth may touch the roots, and lie closely 

 round them in every part. If you tumble in the rough earth, which 

 would leave part of the roots untouched, the parts so untouched 

 will mould, will perish, or become cankered. When the roots are 

 all covered with very fine earth, you may fill up the hole with the 

 earth that has come out of it, only taking care to break it very fine. 

 Before you have put in quite all the earth, give a gentle tread all 

 round the tree with your foot, treading first at a foot distance from 

 the tree, and approaching all round to within three or four inches ; 

 then put the rest of the earth over tlie treading, and leave the 

 surface round the treading in the form of a dish. 



222. If you plant late in the spring, lay a little short litter into 

 the dish, and give the tree a watering occasionally until the 

 month of July, unless the weather obviously render such operation 

 unnecessary. [ am particularly anxious that the reader should 

 attend to this part of my instructions ; for, nine times out of ten, 

 w hen failure takes p'ace, careless planting in the cause. If you 



