COTTAGES. 
39 
be set, be dug as broad as a large wagon-wheel, 
and at least two feet deep. No matter if it be a 
little more labor, it will doubly pay the expenses 
in the increased growth of the tree in two years. 
Then throw in some good earth for a bed on which 
the roots are to rest, and if that thrown from the 
hole be not rich enough, let some be brought from 
elsewhere. Good rotted sods on top soil is the 
best; by no means use fresh manure, for good 
earth is better than any manure, even if well rot¬ 
ted. Fill the hole for the tree sufficiently high 
with earth, so that when planted it will stand 
as deep as before it was removed, or at any rate 
not more than two inches deeper. Before setting 
it out, cut off the bruised and mangled roots, and 
thin out the top moderately, and shorten the 
branches so as to give it a well-fashioned head; 
but by no means cut them off altogether, unless 
the stem be long, and the top so high as to endan¬ 
ger its being blown over; in which case nearly or 
quite the whole top may come off. This, however, 
is a bad practice, and always retards for some 
years the growth of the tree, and frequently is fa¬ 
tal to its life if it be large; short and stocky trees, 
therefore, are the best, always having roots in pro¬ 
portion to the head. 
When the tree is properly trimmed, stand it up¬ 
right on the soft earth prepared for it in the hole, 
and let a hand with a shovel throw in a light cov¬ 
ering of good earth upon the roots. Sway the tree 
gently back and forth to settle the mould among 
the roots, and when finished, tread the ground 
firmly around the trunk. Then lay the surplus 
soil well up, flatting the top like a basin to hold 
the rain that may fall, or the water that you may 
place there to save it from drought; finally, stake 
and protect it, if necessary, and you will not lose 
one tree in twenty that is thus planted. The ex¬ 
tra labor thus expended is not equal to taking up 
the dead trees, and replacing those that would 
otherwise die from careless or insufficient planting; 
and besides, your trees will gain rapidly on the 
otherwise poor, stunted, and feeble things that are 
set in the usual method. Last spring we planted 
thirty-two sycamore or buttonwood trees in this 
manner, on a hard and hungry clay soil, with good 
fresh earth brought in and placed about the roots. 
The trees were about three inches in diameter near 
the root, and every one lived and made more or 
less healthy new wood during the summer, al¬ 
though it was a season of severe drought, and no 
water was carried to them. The whole expense 
of taking up the trees, and digging the holes, and 
planting, was less than thirty-five cents each. On 
these principles of digging up and planting, fruit- 
trees and shrubbery of all kinds may be removed 
with perfect success. We have transplanted hun¬ 
dreds, and when carefully done, with little loss; 
and if these simple rules are followed, three fourths 
of the trees now annually lost from careless plant¬ 
ing, would be saved, and make a rapid growth. 
If any one doubt the superior efficacy of this method, 
let him try it side by side with the plan usually 
practised, and he will be convinced of its superi¬ 
ority. 
Several friends who have been building fine and 
costly houses in town, with ample enclosures in 
front, and who have annually planted shade trees 
in them for several years, wonder why they do not 
grow! We have told them; but they are too 
careless, or do not give sufficient attention to the 
subject to understand it, and still they continue to 
repeat the old process. It was only the other day 
in passing one of their places, we saw a hole dug, 
and a man with a large, long, spindling tree on a 
eart, with a great ball of earth froze to the roots, 
which were cut off all round to fit them to the ca¬ 
pacity of the hole —not the hole fitted to the roots , 
and a long sweeping top. Very well, we thought, 
go on and plant it! but two to one the tree will 
die; yet the experiment will probably be repeated 
again, for years to come, as it has been for years 
past, at the rate of a dollar per tree, until the ex¬ 
hausted proprietor exclaims in his despair, that the 
worthless soil will never bear shade trees ! 
COTTAGES. 
We here give two cuts of cottages, one in the 
plain, and one in the ornamental style. We do 
not subjoin the ground plans, because every one in 
building chooses to have his own arrangement of 
rooms, calculated for his own particular locality, 
comfort, and convenience. Figure 8 we most ad- 
(Fig. 8.) 
mire. It is something like the tasteful English 
cottage orne , a style of building which we hope 
hereafter to see scattered over the country, if for 
