46 
THE FLOE A L WOELD AND GAEDEN GUIDE. 
leaving the beds. Gardeners are sometimes provokingly careless in 
reference to these minor matters, and in winter will come off a 
cabbage compartment with their shoes as heavy with mould as a 
ploughman’s. This mould is scattered on to the paths, spoiling the 
gravel and offending the eye. If there is a sufficiency of scrapers 
they have no excuse for this neglect, and you may reprove offenders 
without fear of the retort, “ Sir, how are we to help it ? ” For the 
same reasons, see that you allow no clayey or chalky gravel to be 
introduced to your premises. It may be difficult to get the right 
kind, but you had better pay 6ix times as much for it than put up 
with an inferior article. Common stuff, not half sifted, may look 
well in fine weather, but wait till winter, and you will repent your 
bargain. 
Box does as well as anything else for edgings in a kitchen 
garden. I have box in some parts and large flint stones in others; 
but I prefer the box. It is charged against it that it harbours snails 
and other vermin ; but so will anything you use as a bordering. 
Under and round about my stones I find as many slugs as in the 
box. In reference to the mode of planting Gooseberry and Currant 
trees, whether in clumps or singly, round the borders, no rule can 
be laid down. Both plans have their conveniences and incon- 
veniences. It must be observed, however, that, if planted together, 
a considerable space should be left between each bush. The clump 
system has this advantage, that birds can be more easily kept from 
the fruit in summer and from buds in the winter. An idea is preva- 
lent that Raspberries do best in damp, shady situations, but it is a 
false one. The plants like a deep, rich soil, but they cannot have 
too much sun, if fruit of fine flavour is desired. 
OUT-DOOR PLANTING. 
E first thing to attend to in out-door planting is, 
trenching the land. This must be done to a consider- 
able depth ; say about two feet or thirty inches. If an 
orchard or flower-garden is being laid out for the first 
time, the general drainage must be looked to before 
success can be hoped for. But if a new bed only is contemplated, 
or the planting of a single tree, the soil must be well disturbed ; 
and if the subsoil is inclined to retain wet, an artificial drainage of 
bricks and stones is desirable. The digging must also extend much 
beyond the hole necessary for admitting the roots of the tree ; the 
further this is done the better, as it is often the case that the 
surrounding soil has not been disturbed for centuries, and roots 
placed in a hole encompassed by such a hard mass, will not ramify, 
but will be similarly situated with those in pots. 
Trees and shrubs should always be planted high, to counteract 
the evils arising from unsuitable subsoils, and also to allow the air 
to get at the roots. People seem to think that, provided the stem 
appears above ground, it matters nothing where the roots are, and 
