parts; but even this fhould be done with caution. Their tops, however, require a different treatment. Foreft trees and other ftem-plants may in general be trimmed close, by which means the roots will be able to fend up a fufficient fupply of nourishment and moisture the first year, and thereby preferve the life of the plant: whereas, on the contrary, if a number of fide-fhoots be left on, the quantity of leaves and fhoots becomes so great, that the plant probably is starved for want of that neceffary fupply. This renders the fuccefs of fhrubby plants uncertain; and is an argument against their paffing through the nursery; and, of course, in favour of their being moved (when practicable) from the feminary into the place in which they are intended to remain. A well-rooted plant, however, if planted in a good mould and a moift feafon, will support a confiderable top; and there is a general rule for trimming of plants: Leave them tops proportioned to their roots; for no doubt the. larger the top, provided the root can fupport it, the quicker progress the plant will make: neverthelefs it is well to be on the fafer fide; a fure though flow progress is preferable to a dead plant, which is always a reflection upon the planter, and an unfightly incumbrance in the plantation. judicious planter, whilft he trims his plants, will at the fame time SORT them: instead of throwing them out of his hand into one heap promifcuously,

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he will lay the weak ill-rooted plants in one place, the middle fort in another, and the ftrong wellrooted ones in a third; in order that, when they are planted out, each plant may have a fair and equal chance of rifing; which, without this precaution, cannot be the cafe.

We now come to the operation of PLANTING; which is guided in fome measure by the species of plantation. If the plants be large and the plantation chiefly ornamental, they ought to be planted out promiscuously in the fituation in which they are intended to remain; but if the plants be fmall, and the plantation chiefly useful, nursery-rows ought generally to be preferred. For in this manner the tender plants give warmth to each other; the tranfition is less violent than when they are planted out immediately from the nursery or feed-bed fingly, and at a distance from each other: the ground is more eafily kept clean than where the plants ftand in the random manner; befides, the intervals may, whilft the plants are young, be cropped with advantage: whilst the remainder of the intended plantation may be kept in an entire ftate of cultivation until the plants acquire a confiderable fize; or, if the whole ground be ftocked in this nursery manner, the fuperfluous plants may in almost any country. be fold to great profit. We do We do not recom

mend planting thefe nursery-plantations too thick: four feet between the rows and two feet between

the

the plants are convenient diftances; or if the intervals be fet out exactly a quarter of a rod wide, namely four feet one inch and an half, and the plants be put in at twenty-four inches and three quarters apart, the calculation of how many plants will be required for an acre or any other given portion of ground, or, on the contrary, how much ground will be neceffary for a given number of plants, will be made easy and certain. The method

of putting in the plants in thefe nursery-rows is this: The ground being brought to a proper ftate of cultivation, as directed above, the plants trimmed and forted, and the rows fet out, a line is laid along to make the holes by. To afcertain precifely the center of each hole, a mark is made in the line (or land-chain, which is not liable to be varied in its length by the weather), and a stick or other guide placed where the center of each hole falls. The workmen begin to make the holes by chopping a ring round each stake, with the fpade, of a diameter proportioned to the fize of the plants, and of a depth equal to that of the cultivated mould. A row of holes being finifhed, the plants, in this cafe, may be immediately put in, which is done in this manner: One man, or boy, holds the plant upright with its ftem in the center of the hole, at the fame time looking along the row to fee that it stand in its proper line, whilst another fills in the mould; first spreading the roots and fibres level in

the

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the bottom of the hole; being careful not to fuffer of them to lie in a cramping folded state; but opening them wide, and fpreading them abroad in the manner of a bird's foot. Whilft the fpade-man is bedding the roots in the finest of the mould, the person who steadies the plant fhould move it gently up and down, in order to work in the mould more effectually among the fibres; which done, they fhould be preffed down gently together with the foot; and the treading, if the foil be light, fhould be repeated two or three times, until the hole be filled up level, and the plant firmly fixed at the fame depth at which it stood in the place from whence it was taken: if on trial the hole be found too fhallow, it must be deepened; if too deep, fome of the rougheft of the mould muft be thrown to the bottom, until the roots be brought to their own natural level. The row being finished, the planter walks back along it, and adjufts fuch plants as lean or stand out of the line, whilft his helper diftributes the plants of the next row. In a fimilar manner the plants are put in when the holes are made in whole ground. The fods are generally thrown to the bottom of the hole; and if thefe be not fufficient to raise the plant high enough, some of the fubftratum is mixed with them; or if this be of a very bad quality, fome of the top foil is dug from the intervals and thrown into the hole. The roots are bedded in the best of

the

the mould, and the hole rounded up, either with the fubftratum or with the foil of the interval, fo as to form a hillock or fwell round the ftem of the plant, in order to allow for the fettling of the broken mould.

Plantations require a close ATTENDANCE AFTER PLANTING; especially in windy weather. Large plants are generally ftaked; but this is a practice we do not recommend, except for large tranfplanted trees or fhrubs: but of thefe in the next chapter. Plants, even of fix or eight feet high, if well-rooted and firmly planted, will withstand a great deal of weather. The plantation however fhould frequently be gone over, and fuch plants as have loft their upright pofture, or are loofe at the roots, should be righted and rammed; especially if the foil be of a light open texture: indeed, in fuch a foil, it is prudent to ram them at the time of planting, which not only prevents their being mifplaced by the winds, but alfo prevents the drought from reaching the roots fo foon as when the mould is left light and porous. In this cafe, however, it must be remembered, that when the plants have got foot-hold, the mould which has been rammed fhould be loofened with the fpade, in order to admit a full supply of air to the roots, without which no plant can flourish. If a continuance of drought fet in after planting, it will be prudent to WATER the plants; not partially, by pouring a small quan