216 



THE PLAKTEK S GUIDE. 



process in the hands of the workmen here, very appro- 

 priately called it " the handling" of the roots, and by that 

 name it has since been distinguished. 



The two handlers, then, of each division, proceed to 

 arrange and distribute the roots in their order, higher or 

 lower, as they proceed from the mass or nucleus; stretch- 

 ing them out over the bolstering of the nucleus to their 

 full length, for which the pit must, if necessary, be enlarged. 

 The great principle in this business being to follow nature, 

 the roots must, like the branches of trees, be equally spread 

 out. Nothing hke crowding or confining must take place, 

 but all must have competent spaces in which to extend, 

 and ample scope to search for the food of the plant. For 

 this purpose the minutest fibres, as well as the strongest 

 roots, must be evenly imbedded in the fine mould of the 

 pit, neither kneading nor pounding it too firmly, (as re- 

 commended by some,) nor leaving what is technically 

 called false filling, or interstitial vacuities. But the whole 

 must gently consolidate into a mass sufficiently compact, 

 yet porous, through which heat as well as moisture, as has 

 been abeady observed, may have free access to the fibres, 

 and where evaporation may proceed without obstruction. 



To effect such a distribution and ordering of the roots, 

 the first thing that the principal handler has to do is, to 

 seize with one hand a parcel of the roots, and to divide 

 them with the other hand into as many tiers as can con- 

 veniently be laid in the depth of the pit, allowing the 

 strata of earth between the tiers to be an inch and a half, 

 or more, in thickness. He then, in conjunction with his 

 assistant, extends the larger roots of the first tier to wide 

 distances, stretching out all the minor ramifications and 

 rootlets intermediately, in the position' in wliich they 

 should lie, so that no one shall, if possible, touch another. 

 The handlers having extended these, with their various 



