PLANTATIONS require a close ATTENDANCE AFTER PLANTING; especially in windy weather. Large plants are generally staked; but this is a practice we do not recommend, except for large transplanted trees or shrubs: but of these in the next Section. Plants, even of six or eight feet high, if well rooted and firmly planted, will withstand a great deal of weather. The plantation, however, should frequently be gone over, and such plants as have lost their upright posture, or are loose at the roots, should be righted and rammed; especially if the soil be of a light open texture : indeed, in such a soil, it is prudent to ram them, at the time of planting; which not only prevents their being misplaced by the winds, but also prevents the drought from reaching the roots so soon as when the mold is left light and porous. In this case, however, it must be remembered, that when the plants have got foothold, the mold which has been rammed should be loosened with the spade; in order to admit a full supply of air to the roots, without which no plant can flourish. If a continuance of drought set in, after planting, it will be prudent to WATER the plants*; not partially, by pouring a small quantity of water against the stem of each; but in large quantities,

Provided the HOLES have not been previously WATERED; a precaution which, in a dry soil and a dry season, ought not to be omitted.

poured into a ring made near the outside of the hole; so that the whole mass of broken earth may be thoroughly moistened, without washing off the finer mold from the fibres. A superficial watering tantalizes the plants, and leads the fibres towards the surface for nourishment: the moisture, thus partially given, soon evaporates, and the disappointed fibres become exposed to the parchings of the sun and wind.

PLANTATIONS in rows are best CLEANED with the plow. In the spring, gather two furrows, or if room four furrows, into the middle of the interval: in summer, split these interval ridges, throwing the mold to the roots of the plants, to save them from the drought: in autumn, gather them again into the interval; and in winter, again return them to the rows, to keep out the frost. If the soil be good, and dung can be had, a row of potatoes, cabbages, &c. may be planted in each interval, or turnips sown over the whole : in either case, the interspaces of the rows should be kept clean hoed, or hand-weeded. In like manner, a promiscuous plantation should be dug, or turned in, at least once a year, during three or four years after planting.

As the plants increase in bulk and stature, they will require PRUNING. Much depends upon

doing this judiciously. If it has been neglected too long, care must be had not to do too much at once. The leader is the principal and first object; the side branches may be afterwards taken off gradually, so as not to wound the plant too much, nor let too much air, at once into the plantation. The time of pruning is generally considered to be in autumn or winter, when the sap is down, and the leaves off; but, for plants which are not liable to bleed, we rather recommend midsummer; as shoots taken off at that time, are not so apt to be followed by fresh shoots, as those taken off in winter. If the shoots be young and slender, it is better to rub them off, than to cut them off, clean, with a sharp instrument: boughs and strong shoots, however, require an instrument; and, from young trees, they should be taken off as smooth and close to the stem as possible. If a stump be left, it will be some years before it be grown over, and a flaw, if not a decayed place, will be the consequence; but if a shoot, or even a considerable bough of a young growing tree, be taken off, level with the bark of the stem, the wound will skin over the first year, and in a year or two, more, no traces of it will be left. A large bough of an aged fullgrown tree requires a different treatment; which will be given under the article HEDGEROW TIMBER.

GREAT judgment is required in THINNING plantations. The same rule holds good in nursery plantations, as in the nursery itself: and the same general rule (liable no doubt to many exceptions) may be extended to woodlands, and ornamental plantations. But of these hereafter: suffice it to repeat, in this part of the Work, that whenever the roots of plants begin to interfere with each other, their growth, from that time, is more or less checked; and whenever their branches are permitted to clash, from that time their beauty and elegance are more or less injured.

SECTION THE FOURTH.

TRANSPLANTING TREES AND SHRUBS.

BY this is meant the removal of trees and shrubs, which, having formerly been planted out, have acquired some considerable size. We do not mean to recommend the practice, in general terms; but, for thinning a plantation, for removing obstructions, or hiding defects, or for the purpose of raising ornamental groups or single trees expeditiously, it may frequently be useful, and is universally practised; though seldom with uniform success. This is, indeed, the most

difficult part of planting, and requires considerable skill-with great care and attention in applying it.

It is in vain to attempt the removal of a taprooted plant (as the oak), which has not previously been tapped; that is, its tap root taken off; and not less arduous to make a weakly rooted plant, of almost any species (the aquatics excepted), succeed with a large top upon it; much, therefore, depends upon taking up, and pruning, trees and shrubs for transplantation.

BEFORE a tap-rooted plant, which has never been removed from its place of semination, can be taken up with propriety, it must be tapped in this manner: Dig a trench or hole by the side of the plant, large enough to make room to undermine it, in such a manner as to be able to sever the tap-root; which done, fill in the mold, and let the plant remain in this state one, two, or three years, according to its size and age. By this time the horizontal roots will have furnished themselves with strength and fibres; especially those which were lopped in the excavation; and the plant may be taken up and removed, in the same manner as if it had been tapped and transplanted while a seedling, though not with equal safety; for plants that have never been removed, have long