316 



THE PRACTICAL GARDENER. 



sharp drying winds. More trees, both fruit and forest, are 

 destroyed by not paying sufficient attention to this point, than 

 by any other cause whatever. Great care, however, must 

 be taken in staking up the trees to prevent rubbing, for the 

 fi'iction produced by the tree rubbing against the prop will 

 soon lacerate and bruise the bark, canker follows, and the tree 

 is ruined. To guard against this evil, a piece of old mat or a 

 small bundle of soft hay should be introduced between the 

 stem of the tree and its prop, and the whole neatly tied toge- 

 ther with a piece of tarred cord, taking care not to tie the cord 

 too tight, which would prevent the stem from swelling. In 

 situations where hares or rabbits are likely to get in to injm*e 

 the trees, care must be taken to protect them from thehr at- 

 tacks. Many modes have been adopted to preserve the stems 

 of trees fi'om these animals, but the most effectual and surest 

 method is to clothe the stems vnth an envelope of moss, short 

 grass, or litter, wound round with shreds of matting or rope- 

 yarn ; this not only protects them from hares, but is of great 

 use the first year after planting, to keep the bark moist, and 

 thereby aid the ascent and the circulation of the sap in the 

 alburnum. This operation should be performed immediately 

 after planting, and left on till by decay it drops oft' of itself: 

 it is of singular service in late planting, or when, from unfore- 

 seen circumstances, summer planting is necessary. When this 

 envelope drops oft', and exposes the stems again to their at- 

 tacks, let it be a rule, before the approach of winter, to bush 

 them round with thorns, which will, if properly effected, pre- 

 serve them, and will not injure them ; or they may be again 

 bound round with hay-bands, from the surface as high as it is 

 likely that the animals can reach ; this, if properly put on, will 

 remain for two years. In a few years the trees will be suffi- 

 ciently proof against them, unless in very severe weather. 

 The first summer after planting, the young trees should be 

 occasionally supplied with water accoriUng to circumstances ; 

 and this should be administered with a bountiful hand. In 

 order to prevent as little of the water being wasted as possible, 

 make a basin or hollow round the stem of each tree, which 

 will contain the water until it soaks down to the roots. Fill 

 this basin with littery dung to the thickness of five or six 



