3G2 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
February !). 
pots to the size of the bulbs. Bulbs one inch across 
will require four-inch pots, whilst such as measure two 
inches diameter should have live-inch pots, and so on 
in the same ratio for less or larger bulbs. The utmost 
cleanliness should prevail in all the materials; the soil 
should be perfectly sweet, the pots either new or clean 
washed, and the drainage should also bo clean. Old 
drainage will do if it is clean washed through several 
waters; but I always prefer fresli-brohen crocks for 
these plants. Provide a little nice, sweet, clean moss, 
also, to place upon the drainage. In potting, proceed 
thus:—Lay a largo piece of pot over the hole at the 
bottom of the pot, then lay round it a few lesser pieces, 
so as to cover the bottom of the pot; upon these place 
a layer of still smaller, enough to completely cover the 
last layer; then upon these last place a thin layer of 
moss. When this is carefully done tho drainage will 
bo effective. Then fill the pot with the compost nearly 
up to the rim, and then turn the ball of old soil out of 
the pot, and shake it out from amongst the roots. Clear 
away all that are dead, and spread the living ones out 
on the surface of the new soil; cover them over, and 
leave the bulbs just out of the soil; shake the soil 
down, and the operation is finished. Give no water for 
a time until fresh roots are produced. The after-treat¬ 
ment I must defer to another opportunity. 
T. Appleby. 
(2’o be continued .) 
WOODS AND FORESTS. 
(Continued from page 341.) 
i 
I 
Planting. —The season for this operation commences 
as soon as the leaves have fallen, and may bo continued 
through all the winter months, weather permitting, up 
to the middle of March, always bearing this in mind, 
that the sooner it is finished, tho more certainty there 
will be of tho trees growing and doing well. If the 
trees have to he purchased from some nursery at a dis¬ 
tance, the moment they arrive they should be laid in by 
tho heels, as it is termed by planters. If the roots 
have become dry during the trausit, they should, 
previous to being laid in, be thoroughly wetted, either 
by dipping their roots in water thickened with fine 
earth, or by pouring water upon them from a coarse- 
rosed water-pot. Whilst tho roots are being wetted, 
let a long trench be opened deep enough to hold the 
roots. Then open the trees out, and lay them, not too 
thick, regularly inalongthe row, a man following quickly 
with a spade, to cover the roots, the great object being 
to get them covered up as soon as possible from the 
drying, shrivelling air. 
By treating them thus the roots will be greatly pre¬ 
served, and the chances of growing multiplied. I have, 
in the course of my experience, seen them very 
differently treated. To save trouble, the bundles of 
trees, when they came from the nursery, were placed 
close together, in outhouses, slightly covered with straw, 
and there they remained till time and weather permitted 
them to be planted. No wonder that more than one- 
half died by such injudicious treatment. 
Many noblemen and gentlemen, finding this to be the 
case, have adopted the plan of devoting a plot of ground 
as a nursery, on their premises, purchasing small plants, 
and growing them for a year or two on the spot. This 
is a very advantageous method, inasmuch as the trees 
can then bo taken up as many at once as can be planted 
in ono day, and, consequently, there is more certainty 
of success, providing every due preparation of the 
ground is attended to previously to planting. But if 
the trees are had from a nursery, and carefully laid in, 
they will succeed very well, if the precaution is taken 
not to take more up any morning than can be planted 
the same day. 
The size of the trees to be planted is a subject re- j 
quiring duo consideration. In exposed situations, trees, j - 
throe or four feet high, will be so blown and twisted , 
about by the winds, that considerable numbers will 
perish, and such as do grow will bo several years , 
before they establish themselves firmly in the ground, 
however well the ground may have been prepared, and ! 
the trees firmly planted. It is a great mistake to ! 
suppose that there is anything gained by planting j 
large trees, especially in unsheltered positions. One- i 
and-a-lialf to two feet, at tho farthest, are sizes that grow j 
the best, because the wind has less power upon them, j 
Besides this, the trees in the nursery-rows are generally 
planted thick, and then shelter each other, and, perhaps, 
have, in most cases, been growing for three or more 
years on the same plot of ground without being re¬ 
moved, hence tho roots will be what are termed tap- 
rooted, with few side fibres; and these two points ol 
growing thickly, and having only one or two straight 
tap-roots, operate greatly against a successful removal. 
Poor Richard says—“I neverknew an oft-removed tree, 
nor yet an oft-removed family, that throve so well as 
one that settled be.” He is quite true, if trees were not 
required to be moved ; but where they must be trans¬ 
planted, ono or two removals, by increasing the 
number of fibrous roots, is not only not injurious, but 
positively beneficial. Hence, all good nurserymen 
transplant their stock of young trees at least every 
second year, planting them thinner each time. Trees 
so planted, and more especially Conifers and evergreen 
shrubs, are much more useful and valuable to the 
planter. This practice of removing, or transplanting, is 
now generally practised in most nurseries, and, con¬ 
sequently, a somewhat higher price is charged tor them, 
which is but reasonable. For it is a considerable 
addition to the expense of a nursery these frequent 
removals. 
In sheltered situations, the larger-sized trees so re¬ 
moved may be planted with every probability of success. 
Old neglected plantations that have been severely 
thinned will be a proper place to plant these larger 
trees. In such situations, small trees would very likely 
be smothered by rank grass, ferns, &c., besides, where 
game abounds, being cropped off by hares or rabbits; 
hence, to fill up woods that have beou thinned, the trees 
should not be less than three feet high, providing they 
are well furnished with fibrous roots, and tho ground 
stirred up well to plant them in. 11 hares or rabbits 
abound greatly, the trees should be protected from their 
bites. I have often seen numbers of nice young trees 
in such places, in severo winters like this, with the bark 
peeled off all around as high as these pests to the 
planter could reach. Last year I planted an orchard ot 
five acres, and though the' game hereabouts is by no 
means plentiful, yet they found out my Pear and Apple 
trees, and began to make havoc with the bark. I 
adopted a very simple protection, cheap, and easily 
applied, which completely stopped them from barking 
the trees, and that was, I set two men to daub the stems 
as high as the hares could reach with cow-dung, made 
thin with water, about tho consistence of common paint. ; 
It was laid on with a home-made brush of common ; 
garden mat, and one application served through the 
winter. Not a single tree was touched afterwards. Now 
the expense of tho cow-dung paint was trifling, and a 
man could daub over several hundred of these in a day. 
I can confidently recommend this simple, non-injurious 
application, a preventive of hares barking trees. 
T. Appleby. 
CTo be continued.) 
