Preparing the Ground. 



go down into tlie stiffest and sourest of clay ; but it will 

 not thrive, and will hardly live, if there be stagnant water 

 at bottom. Open drains, or ditches, are not much incon- 

 venience in woods, where no carriage need ever go, except 

 at the time of cutting down. 



28. Whether trees be placed in large plantations, or in 

 clumps, or in single rows, or along by water-sides, the pre- 

 paration of the ground ought to be the game; only, in the 

 last two cases, there will be holes only to prepare, unless 

 th© trees be to stand near to each other, and then it will 

 be best to trench a ship all along, about ten feet wide. If 

 in lioles, the hole ought to be not less than of ten feet dia- 

 meter, if possible; for, to put a tree into a small hole is 

 only putting it into a very large pot. I shall, further on, 

 speak of preparing trees for avenues, which are certainly 

 very beautiful things, and which, when they fail, generally 

 fail from want of skill, or of care, in the planter, 



29. Now, as to the reasons for trenching ground about to 

 be planted with trees, the first is, that, whenever you move 

 earth, there is 'd fomentation that takes place, and this fo- 

 mentation causes a division of the ground into smaller 

 particles, which, as Mr. Tull has clearly shown, is the 

 great use of manure. By exposing earth, long buried 

 from the sun and air, you make it more fit for the food of 

 plants. When loose to a good depth, it absorbs the rains 

 and dews more quickly, and retains them longer. It is a 

 great mistake to suppose that plants want the ground 

 moved no deeper than their roots go. If this were the case, 

 plants (as I have elsewhere observed) with very short roots 

 might be cultivated on a brick or stone pavement with earth 

 laid upon it to the thickness of a foot ; and yet, no plant will 

 live and thrive in such a state; though it will do very well 



