HINTS ON POTTING AND PLANTING. 
237 
susceptible of damage in consequence of being filled with fluids, and that the 
branches are almost sure to suffer. The more rational way is to plant near the 
surface, so as to bring the plant into a hardened condition by the approach of 
winter, and then, if necessary, to shelter the roots by artificial mulching. 
It is hardly worth while adverting to the opinion that comparatively deep 
planting is essential, to prevent the roots from receiving detriment when the ground 
is cleared or dug around them. Very few roots, indeed, will be so immediately on 
the surface as to be hurt by the hoe ; and if digging is indispensable, the severance 
or disturbance of a small portion of roots is assuredly preferable to having the 
whole in an unhealthy state. 
Having pointed out, thus explicitly, the evils of deep planting, and showed that 
the circumstances which are supposed to justify it are all overruled by others of 
greater moment, we shall describe the sort of planting that we advocate, premising 
that it is all departures from this which we denounce and deprecate. 
Between the stem or heart of every flowering plant, whatever may be its 
nature, and its roots, there exists a definitive interspace or point of connexion 
which is termed the collum, collar, or neck. It is this collar which should be 
taken as a guide in all kinds of planting, (some culinary vegetables perhaps 
excepted), and it ought always, if possible, to be precisely on the surface of the 
ground. When practicable, as in the case of certain shrubs and trees, it may even 
be a little above the earth, and should never be buried beneath it beyond what is 
absolutely necessary to secure the plant in its position. Here, then, is a simple 
criterion, which all persons may understand. If the collar is placed below the 
earth, and in exact proportion to the depth at which it is plunged, the plant will 
assuredly be injured, to a greater or less extent. But if the specimen is planted 
so that the collar is just upon or above the surface of the ground, fertility, health, 
and hardihood, will be the natural and necessary results, provided everything else 
is alike favourable. 
Sometimes, however, where the greatest care has been exercised in planting on 
the surface, the evils of an opposite course are incautiously realized by applying a 
quantity of fresh soil to the plot previously planted. It is a very common practice 
with amateurs who have small gardens, when their plants are not thriving as tliey 
would wish them, to procure new earth and spread it over the surface to the depth 
of three or six inches, or even a foot. The inevitable consequence is, that their 
shrubs and trees are spoiled, or perish. 
Nor are gardeners exempted from the same fault, though they do not fall into 
it exactly in a similar manner. When alterations are made in a place, and addi- 
tional earth has to be placed on a spot containing trees and shrubs, their collar is 
often thoughtlessly buried to any required depth, and they are expected to go on 
flourishing as usual. A very short period, however, serves to convince the operator 
that he has endangered the vigour, and even the life of his plants. 
Nearly all that we have thus advanced is applicable, with a slight alteration, 
