550 



OTST USEFUL AND 



BOOK I. 



can be accomplished. This mode decomposes the organic 

 matter, and pulverizes the soil much more completely than 

 trenching with the spade, while it will not cost above one third 

 the expense. In places inaccessible to the plough, the ground 

 should be prepared with the spade, either by digging or trench- 

 ing. In steep banks, or places much covered with stones, or 

 other impediments to digging or trenching, or where there may 

 be danger of the . winter rains carrying away loose soil, pits 

 should be made the summer previously to the planting season. 

 — One pit being opened, the earth of the next should be thrown 

 into it, with the surface undermost. By the time the pit is re- 

 opened, the sward will be rotted, and should be incorporated 

 with the rest of the soil in putting in the plant. Other places 

 still more difficult may be planted by slits; or by putting in 

 acorns, ash keys, or other tree seeds; many of which will grow 

 in crevices of rocks and precipices, where little or no earth can 

 be seen. Where oaks alone are to be planted or sown, no 

 other preparation than pitting is necessary; as they depend 

 more upon the nourishment derived from their tap root, which 

 penetrates in a perpendicular direction, than from their hori- 

 zontal fibres. Pitting, or slit-planting, are also the only modes 

 that can be adopted with safety in places where the wind or 

 rain are apt to carry off the soil. A case of the former kind 

 came under my practice at Linkhouse, and of the latter at 

 Cowper's Hilh 



