224 
GROUNDWORK AND PLANTING. 
query of, will trees grow there ? the soil is wet, springy, and sour, 
descending into a hollow too deep to permit an outlet to drain it, 
or it is a barren gravel, lying on the summit of a rise open alike 
to the burning influence of the sun in summer and the irresistible 
rush of the wintry blast; the planter’s hopes are paralysed in 
such places, vet they may be clothed. To alter the character of 
the soil would entail an expense beyond the value of the improve¬ 
ment, to change the nature of the locality, impossible: we must 
therefore select such trees or shrubs as are known to affect situa¬ 
tions of the kind : if the place intended to receive the trees cannot 
be rendered what is desirable, we must take it as it is, and plant 
accordingly. Alder, Ash, Poplar, or Willow will grow in the first- 
named position, while the Fir tribe offers the best chance of 
clothing the latter. This is what may be termed consideration 
the first: where are we going to plant, and what is the object 
sought? and is instanced here to show the necessity of some 
deliberation ere we begin. 
In positions more of an ordinary character, where a mixture 
of trees and shrubs is required, it is of the first consequence to 
attend to draining and pulverizing. The condition and quality 
of the soil should be carefully examined, not only at the surface, 
but to a depth equal to that it is likely the trees will thrust their 
roots in their after progress; those who plant anything larger 
than an under-shrub should remember what they are doing is 
intended to stand as monuments of their care or negligence per¬ 
haps for ages, and to an observant eye speak as plainly as would 
“graven plates of brass it is, therefore, worth while to do it 
well. Fortunate are those who find both surface and subsoil 
suited to their purpose without further preparation than the mere 
trenching necessary to loosen the staple for the reception of the 
first-formed roots ; in by far the greater number of cases it is 
diametrically opposite, and usually too wet; this may, however, 
be regarded as even preferable to a hungry, dry soil, whose con¬ 
stituents are either stones or sand: the wet land maybe reclaimed, 
but in the latter we can do no more than assort the occupants 
to its sterile nature. The drains for plantations must be propor¬ 
tionate in size and number to the state of the land ; as a matter 
of course, more are wanted where it is very wet than where the 
excess is only of a moderate character; but in either case, the 
