THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GLIDE. 
273 
demand a different mode of treatment. I must here beg permission 
to say that nurserymen are frequently charged with sending inferior 
plants, from their being found dead a month or two after planting, 
when, in reality, the person that superintended the work is the 
guilty party. Having made this charge, I must, in fairness, give 
the evidence upon which it is founded — evidence, be it understood, 
by no means circumstantial, but essentially practical, and which I 
have seen many times confirmed. Well, then, a nurseryman receives 
an order for a given number of trees and shrubs, with instructions 
to send them by rail to a certain station, from which they will be 
taken by the waggons of his customer. They are, of course, de- 
spatched, and in due time reach the ground where they are to be 
planted, though, thanks to the tardiness of railway transit, they are 
often a long time on the road. Now, it frequently happens that the 
weather is very warm and sunny during the whole time the plants 
are out of the ground, aud when they reach their destination the 
roots are completely dried up, and the plants otherwise drained of 
their moisture by evaporation. In this condition have I seen plants, 
and that not seldom, thrown in heaps upon the ground where they 
were to be planted, with perhaps an old mat or two cast over them 
as an apology for a covering from the wind and sun, but often with 
no covering at all, and then put into the ground without any other 
care or preparation. Small deciduous plants may, and in a measure 
do, bear up against such treatment ; but that evergreens should 
survive it is a standing miracle to any one at all conversant with 
the constitution and requirements of vegetable life. Of course, 
very many failures do result ; nothing less could, under the circum- 
stances, be reasonably hoped for. I have no wish to hold up 
nurserymen as immaculate, or to deny that some of them do not at 
times send out coarse-rooted plants, and that numerous deaths are 
the consequence ; but I also know that losses arising from the 
causes above noticed are often unjustly laid to their charge. I am 
sure I shall be pardoned for making this little digression. Now, 
supposing a large number of plants to arrive in the condition above 
described, this is how I would treat them : Procure a tub or two, 
each a yard or so in diameter, and two feet deep. Fill them to 
within six inches of the rim with water and loam mixed to the con- 
sistency of cream. Let the roots of every plant be dipped in this, 
and immediately “ laid in,” taking care that they are well covered 
with soil. For convenience, the plants should be placed in rows, 
and as each row is finished give a good watering, and not only at 
the root, but by means of a rose to the watering-pot well sprinkle 
their stems and branches. All the plants will imbibe a large amount 
of moisture through the soft parts of their stems and branches, and 
the evergreens in addition to their leaves. If in the day, and the 
sun is all powerful, some mats, or even straw, thrown over them will 
be very beneficial. At night this may be taken off, for the sake of 
the dew ; but nevertheless another good sprinkling from the water- 
ing-pot may be given them with advantage. By the following 
morning the plants will be found to have imbibed moisture equivalent 
to what they lost on their journey. The roots, too, will be moist, 
September. IS 
