t 
PLANTING. 53 
bole of the tree and its main roots. These were set on a ^hillock in 
Kt 
the centre of the root run, and all the roots ran down hill towards the 
sides of the hole; the consequence was that all the best roots made 
immediately for the subsoil. 
To counteract this, others reversed the form of the base line for the 
roots. The centre of the tree was placed lowest, and the horizontal roots 
led up hill. This resulted in bringing* the best roots too close to the 
surface. There is no form for the base equal to a level line. The roots 
then stand in the exact direction where they will find the most and best 
food. If care is taken, too, to bury them in layers separated by a few 
inches of earth between, much overcrowding and useless matting together 
of the roots is avoided. Eioots feed best, not in huge matted masses, 
but in solitary isolation. 
It is also important that the holes be large enough. Many attribute 
much importance to the form of the holes, some cultivators preferring 
round, others elliptical, square, or other shaped holes. The form is of no 
' moment, provided the hole at all points is a foot or so wider than the 
sweep of the roots. In stiff soils 2ft. wider than the longest root would 
be better still. It is important that each root should find loose soil ahead 
of it, so that it may penetrate it easily, and not be bent back upon 
itself by meeting with hard and unbroken soil. 
When it is found impossible to plant early in winter, and the trees to 
be planted were grown in a warm soil in a warm situation, it may at 
times be desirable to remove them thence in November, and inlay the 
trees by the heels behind a north wall till the new quarters in garden or 
orchard are ready for them. This practice, however, is recommended as 
a choice of the lesser of two evils. But, if apples must be planted as late 
as March, and the trees are moved from warm and forward nursery 
lines, they will suffer more than they would by the double removal. 
After planting, whether early or late, the surface of the ground 
should be rendered frost and drought proof by a covering of some non¬ 
conducting material, such as stable litter, moss, cocoa-fibre refuse, or spent 
tan. This prevents the roots being arrested in their growth, either in 
summer or in winter—a point of immense importance to all roots under 
all circumstances, but, of course, specially so to those that have been 
newly planted, and that, consequently, have to make sure of their new 
hold of the ground, as well as to supply all the demands of the tops of 
the trees for food. This mulching, as it is called, of newly-planted trees 
is one of the most important points in modern culture, and exhibits a 
striking advance on the older and rougher expedients. But when all 
roots were buried deeper in the earth there was less necessity for 
mulching, as the earth itself protected the roots from the severities alike 
