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3 feet. If rock be present, it must be gadded or blasted out for as great a depth as 
funds will allow, for it must be remembered that the presence of rock, especially solid or 
continuous rock, indicates very adverse conditions to tree life. Then when the proper 
depth has been reached, give a parting shot to stir up the rock a bit, leave a good depth 
of rubble at the bottom of the hole, then place a layer of pieces of rock of smaller size, 
and fill up with the best soil that can be procured. 
But before filling up, drainage must be secured. With holes in the solid rock 
this, of course, means more blasting, for a channel must be made for the water to flow 
away, since nothing is more deleterious to the fine roots of trees than to let them chill 
or drown in water. 
If we have sandy soil, this must be dug out for as big an area as funds will allow, 
and where there is a hard-pan a few feet below the surface (which is often the case), 
this must be removed. Sometimes this hard-pan is only of medium hardness, but it 
may contain much ferruginous matter in solution, and is sometimes even acid, and 
deadly to young plants. Now, the expense of providing good soil becomes serious, for 
usually sandy and sandstone land is at a considerable distance from good soil, and the 
cost of cartage is therefore very great. There is an old Latin proverb to the effect 
that you can only get nothing out of nothing, and if you think you can cheat a tree, 
you will be very much mistaken. You might just as well think that it would not 
matter to your horse whether you gave him nutritious food or not. Remember that 
the work of a gardener is largely buried in the earth, and that the plant will explain to 
the world the condition of affairs below the ground level. When a tree looks sickly or 
stunted, depend upon it that the fundamental cause, in the vast majority of cases, is 
bad drainage or poverty of soil. 
Trees in paved towns are often planted near the edge of the footpath, and they 
should be planted as far from it as can be conveniently arranged. But a matter of 
the greatest importance is to see that the kerbstone nearest the tree is as shallow as 
the safety of the pavement will permit. You might just as well put the tree in a pot 
as to force its roots against a deep kerbstone. 
5. Plenty of fairly good, soil I have already dealt with this in the preceding 
section, but it is of such paramount importance that I bring it forward for special 
reiteration. If you expect a tree to flourish it must have something to feed on in the 
way of good soil. Only in very rare cases should manure be added to soil at the planting, 
and when this is deemed to be necessary, the manure should be well rotted. Where a 
tree is suffering from debility, the digging in of a little bone-dust often gives the 
necessary stimulus in the direction of health. It is oftenest necessary to give trees a 
little nutriment in towns, especially where the tree has been planted in a pot-hole in 
hard or rocky soil. Most town trees are, however, supposed to do without any soil 
nutriment. In fairly good soil, and where the tree can spread out its roots and live 
its life, the question of manure is wholly unnecessary, and indeed, it has been shown, 
as the result of experiment, that the timber crop is the least exhausting to the soil of 
any crop whatever, 
