186 SUBURBAN GARDENS 
not be a great amount of moisture in the soil 
when planting is done; for moist earth pack^ 
in chunks rather than sifts, not only leaving 
rootlets hung in its midst but tearing many of 
them from the plant by reason of its weight. 
Therefore choose a dry time rather than a 
wet one for planting. 
Holes must be dug the full size of the spread 
of the roots, after these have assumed their 
normal positions, and to six inches below the 
depth of the deepest of them. Remember that 
roots grow at their tips, out and down, just as 
branches grow out and up; see that these tips 
are turned down therefore. I speak of this 
particularly because there is always a tendency 
to shirk when it comes to making a hole the 
full depth required and full size all the way 
down; indeed I think I may say that I have 
never found a gardener, amateur or profes- 
sional, who did not exhibit this tendency to a 
very marked degree. So I am perfectly cer- 
tain the suburban beginner is not going to prove 
an exception — for he is pretty sure to be in a 
hurry and to want results, not work. It will 
not do to cheat, however, nor to assure one- 
self that it cannot matter much. The depth 
at which roots have established themselves be- 
low the surface is the depth at which the right 
