General Instructions. 



the bark of the roots, and restores it to something like the 

 state in which it was when in the ground, before the tree 

 was moved. I shall, by-and-by, speak about the planting 

 of small trees; but, as I do not wish to return to these 

 large trees again, I will here add, that, before you put the 

 tree in the ground, it is a good way to dip the roots in mud 

 (natural or made), which will cling round the bark ; for one 

 of the most essential things is, to make the earth touch closely 

 every part of the bark of the roots, which it does not do, 

 unless you take very great pains, first to make it JiitCy and 

 next to press it closely, as you put it in. You shouUl, as 

 you are putting in the earth, lift the tree a little, and jog it 

 \\\) and down, that the earth may go into all the cavities, 

 and closely touch the root in every part. Then, when all 

 the roots are thus covered and surrounded with the earth, 

 you may fill in the top with the spade, and tread it a little, 

 beginning to tread at the outside of the hole, and ending at 

 the stem of the tree. It is quite useless to tread at the top, 

 unless you first take care of the bottom. Even with all 

 these pains, a large tree will, at the end of five or six years, 

 be overtaken by a small one; but without these pains, the 

 large one will, nine times out of ten, produce nothing but 

 mortification. 



55. In the case of plantations of any extent, no man, 

 however, thinks of large trees ; and now I am to speak of 

 the age and size, and of the pruning of the roots of the 

 smaller ones} but, there is one particular case, in which, 

 even if upon a large scale, it is absolutely necessary to plant 

 large trees; that is to say, if you plant any at all. I allude 

 to unenclosed lands, where the herbage belong to many 

 persons, and where the timber and the right to plant trees 

 belong to one; and this is an im})ortant matter, too, because 

 it relates chiefly to the rearing of oaks. 



