24 
ON ORNAMENTAL PLANTING. 
the humidity, or excite the energies of the plant into action, at a time when they are crippled 
and mutilated, are just the conditions which every good planter would desire at any season. 
Exposure to the air, the drying action of the sun or wind, and the application of the absurd 
and injurious practice called “ puddling,” are thus either avoided, or, as in the case first 
named, rendered harmless. 
The objection to autumn planting that, in regard to evergreens, it leaves them to he 
blown about by the winds during winter, and particularly in the month of March, is easily 
remedied by affording them a little temporary shelter, such as a few fir branches placed on 
the exposed side would produce. 
We have now before us a large extent of ornamental planting, which was effected between 
the months of November and June, and in the appearance of which, we have readily been 
able to distinguish the various periods at which it was accomplished ; there being a marked 
difference in the growth of the plants. So great, in fact, is the distinction, that those last 
planted are at present, after three years’ growth, fully a year behind such as were put in 
earliest ; and the number of deaths in the case of those latest planted groups is at least, as 
compared with the others, ten to one. 
During the winter of 1847-8, also, we had a considerable number of trees and shrubs 
removed, many of them being evergreens of large size, and we can now easily trace the 
difference, in point of health and progress, between those planted in November, and such as 
were necessarily delayed till March or April. Our own experience, therefore, is all in 
favour of autumn planting. 
It is perhaps right, however, that we should here except from the rule thus laid down, 
such plants as, from their previous treatment, whether as greenhouse or half-hardy speci- 
mens, are, when desired to be transferred to the open ground, obviously unfit to be put out 
in autumn. In these instances, which should be of rare occurrence, it is most necessary 
that the plants should not be exposed till spring, in order that they may have the whole 
summer to get inured to the open air before being subjected to the cold of winter. But 
delicate things of this nature, will always require care in watering, in consequence of being 
planted so late. 
As scarcely any plants will flourish well in a soil in which water lodges, or one that is 
very stiff and close, two of the most important preliminaries to planting are drainage, and 
the thorough breaking up of the ground. The former of these may sometimes be dispensed 
with on land that is naturally sloping, of a light description, and having a gravelly or rocky 
foundation. But where the ground is at all flat, or disposed to be spongy, or resting on clay, 
good draining must by no means be neglected. 
The necessity for a proper trenching and breaking up of the soil is not, like drainage, 
at all dependent on the character of the soil or its position. This must always be done, 
whether the ground be light or heavy. The depth to which this stirring of the earth should 
be effected, is a matter which can be regulated by the natural thickness of the soil in the 
district, and the character of the lower stratum. It should never be trenched less than 
eighteen inches, and need not be so more than two feet. 
Where, however, the soil is not naturally light, it is of great consequence to adopt all 
available methods for making it so, as the roots of newly-moved plants never spread kindly 
into a stiff soil, and their growth may be retarded for years, while they will never ultimately 
be so free and beautiful, unless some such modes of improving the ground be adopted. 
Working the earth freely with the spade, and introducing a greater or less quantity of 
sand, ashes, finely broken stone, lime, or manure, will be the best means of reducing it to 
a proper condition for receiving plants. The common practice of planting in crude earth 
which has merely been turned over once in spadesful, without being at all broken up, and 
in which the buried weeds and rubbish come into immediate contact with the newly-inserted 
and tender roots of the plants, is almost certain to end in more or less of dissatisfaction and 
disappointment. 
For one of the same reasons which render light soil needful for ornamental plantations, 
viz., that the plants thereby acquire an abundance of fibrous roots, and are, consequently, 
well furnished with branchy and symmetrical heads, — trees and shrubs should always be 
obtained from a nursery the soil of which is light, comparatively shallow, and lying on a 
firm gravelly or rocky basis. Plants from such a situation are invariably better furnished 
with both fibrous roots and branches, can be transported far more successfully, and make the 
most perfect specimens. 
