Planter

“ In concluding this chapter, and my remarks on planting, I have only to observe that, if a planter chooses to take an interest in everything that is going on around him, and learns to make himself at home in the country, he will find the life both interesting and agreeable. ”

“ At the Philadelphia Exhibition there were specimens of thirty-seven species of the oak, thirty-four of the pine family, seventeen of spruce and fir, eleven of maples, besides many others.
With such a variety of trees and so many conditions of climate and soil, and the different objects which the planter may have in view, no one can give an answer to the question what to plant, except in a general way. Trees have their homes as well as men, where they develop to the best. ”

“ What planter will attempt to yoke A sapling with a falling oak? ”

“ The planter having set out all his trees must not deem his labors completed, they are only commencing. To arrive thus far is simple and easy, but to patiently watch and tend the trees for ten years after, requires all the enthusiasm already mentioned. ”

“ All this Time I lived with my Parents, and wrought on the Plantation; and, having had Schooling pretty well for a Planter, I used to improve it in Winter Evenings, and other leisure Times; ”

“ The trunk grows coarse, warty, and buttressed at the base. Suckers are thrown up from the roots. There is little left to challenge admiration. Since the tree gives practically no shade, we must believe that the first planters were attracted by its odd shape and its readiness to grow, rather than by any belief in its fitness for avenue and highway planting. ”

“ Just at this crisis of the fate of the crop, when their services were most wanted, all the prime male hands had scurvily skulked off a few nights since into the woods, leaving the overseer with the women, children, and sick, to contend against the weeds as best he could; and that, too, said my communicative planter, looking at me with the air of a most ill-treated man, and as if sure of my sympathy, with cotton at sixteen cents the pound, and promising to be higher yet by the time the crop was ready for the market. ”

“ Let us fix our attention on a single plant. It has a certain amount of root pasturage and space in which to grow. Since it is not permitted to produce an indefinite number of young plants, it begins to develop itself. The soil is rich, the roots are busy, and there must be an outlet. The original plant cannot form others, and therefore begins to produce fruit-crowns for the coming year. All the sap, all the increasing power of root and foliage, are directed to preparation for fruit. ”

“ The general idea is that all the soil shall be concealed, not necessarily at the moment of planting, but at the end of one or two seasons' growth. Unless you are a collector, variety is of little importance. The main thing is that there shall be beauty as a whole, a few marked seasonal effects of color with massed bloom and some green the year round; the garden must never be bare at any time, as nature will show you. Plants clustered here and [Pg 27] single there is a good planting rule. ”

“ We will suppose the work has been done in the spring, as early as the earth was dry enough to crumble freely, and that the surface of the bed is smooth, mellow, and ready for the plants. Stretch a garden line down the length of the plot two feet from the outer edge, and set the plants along the line one foot apart from each other. Let the roots be spread out, not buried in a mat, the earth pressed FIRMLY against them, and the crown of the plant be exactly even with the surface of the soil, which should also be pressed closely around it with the fingers. ”

“ But, Mary Frances, if you want a lovely garden, you must get the garden table ready for the plant roots in the most enticing way.
2. Next, take your rake and “comb” the earth to and fro until it is all light and feathery.
Of course, in large fields, this work of raking is done with a harrow.
3. After planting the seeds, pat the soil down firmly so that [81] it will be firm enough for the little rootlets to “get a hold,” yet will be movable so that they may grow.
To Plant Seeds in Boxes
Little seeds are not always started, or planted, out of doors. ”

“ If you live where you can easily get stone, have a rock garden in some form, even if it is only an edging of stones to your herbaceous border, and grow some of the plants we have told you of amongst them. If you live where your walls are of brick, you may still get some plants established on them. For instance, where weeds have established themselves, you can remove them, stuff in a little good soil, and sow a few seeds of Snapdragon or Wallflower. ”

“ The thin soil of a rocky hill, when deprived of its shelter of branches, will be burned by the summer sun out of all power to help the germination of any worthy seed, or to nurture so noble a plant as a tree through the tender days of its infancy. ”

“ Sometimes in such arid dry countries, a small spring of water will form around itself a refreshing oasis of greenery surrounded everywhere by dreary thorn-scrub or monotonous sand. All the plants in such a spot have their own special work to do: the graceful trees which shade the spring, the green mosses on the stones, the fresh grass and bright flowers or waving reeds, are all associated in a common work. They protect and shelter each other; their dead leaves are used to form soil; their roots explore and break up the ground. ”

“ Meadow Rue, Thalictrum.—Tall and vigorous herbaceous plants, mostly without any beauty of flower when closely examined, but often affording a pleasing distant effect when seen in masses, and hence desirable for this mode of gardening, though seldom suitable for a position in the garden proper. They grow in any soil, and should be placed among rank herbs and coarse vegetation, not in the foreground, which might be occupied by more brilliant subjects. ”

“ Children are raised in slums and hovels, and even in besieged and famine-stricken towns; and, in like manner, there is no site so bad, no aspect so dull, no air so vile, no soil so poor and shallow but plants may be found which will there exist. But in order that we may grow any considerable variety of beautiful flowers we must screen our garden from bitter winds, and so prepare our soil that it shall be adapted for vigorous plant growth. Wind-resisting screens may consist either of walls or of suitable trees and shrubs. ”

“ Before planting your garden in Spring it is well to carefully consider the nature of each flower, and arrange your garden so that each flower can be displayed to advantage; never plant promiscuously; it is astonishing what a difference landscape gardening will make in the general aspect of even a small place. It is quite as desirable as to arrange the colors in a picture to harmonize. Even an old stump of a tree can be made beautiful by planting vines around it, or by scooping out the top and filling in soil, and planting Nierembergia, Lobelia, Double Nasturtium, Variegated Myrtle, &c., in it. ”

“ The great forest-tree has a shoot, which in the course perhaps of hundreds of years, has developed a wide-spreading system of trunk and branches, bearing on the ultimate twigs or branchlets innumerable leaves, while beneath the soil a widely-branching root-system covers an area of corresponding extent. Between these two extremes is every conceivable gradation, embracing aquatic and terrestrial herbs, creeping, erect or climbing in habit, shrubs and trees, and representing a much greater variety than is to be found in the other subdivision of seed-plants, the Gymnosperms. ”

“ When living tree seeds are exposed to proper amounts of moisture, warmth and air in a fertile soil, they will sprout and grow. A root develops which pushes its way down into the soil, while the leaf-bud of the plant, which springs from the other end of the seed, works its way upward toward the light and air. This leafy part of the seed finally forms the stem of the tree. But trees may produce plenty of seed and yet fail to maintain their proper proportion in the forest. ”

“ The flower-stem is more than 2 ft. high, and very much branched; the branches commencing at from 4 ins. to 8 ins. above the ground, and forming a large and exceedingly handsome panicle of flowers of a light-blue colour, tinged with the greyish hue of the numerous membranous bracts and thin dry calyces. A well-drained, sandy soil, in an open sunny position, is the best for this plant, which, however, grows in any ordinary garden-soil, and is admirably adapted for naturalisation or grouping with the acanthuses, tritomas, etc., the effect of the inflorescence being very remarkable. ”

“ To grow like a tree, slowly and placidly, with long sensitive roots penetrating the soil, a thousand branches wrestling with the storm, and leaves without number drinking the sun and the dew through myriad pores, must have its deep delights. ”

“ Passion Flower.—Cuttings of the young shoots strike readily in sand under glass. The plant likes a good loamy soil mixed with peat. A sheltered position with a south or south-western aspect should be assigned those grown out of doors, and the root should be well protected in winter. The flowers are borne on seasoned growth of the current year: this fact must be considered when pruning the plants. During the hot months the roots require a copious supply of water, and the foliage should be syringed freely. ”

“ In studying combinations for the garden we must take into consideration the harmony and contrast of color, texture, form, height and the succession of bloom. We must also see that plants requiring the same soil and the same care are put together. In my garden I use both annuals and perennials but am limited in choice to those plants that are perfectly hardy, that will stand infinite neglect, drought, much wind, a stiff soil, that do not require especial protection in the winter, that will be in bloom all summer long and be beautiful. ”

“ I planted the trees, and the faithful servants kept on working day and night, and that beautiful grove was the result. Every tree you plant is your servant, and how faithful it is—no shirking, always at it whether you are looking or not. Look at that cherry [Pg 305] tree. How the tiny rootlets scurry through the soil—faithful children gathering food to send up to their mother. Look at that flood of bloom. Then the fruit grows till a mass of red gleams from the leafy coverts. There is a great difference between a patch of brown earth and your faithful Jonathan. ”

“ Trees are held upright in the soil by means of roots which reach to a depth of many feet where the soil is loose and porous. These roots are the supports of the tree. They hold it rigidly in position. They also supply the tree with food. Through delicate hairs on the roots, they absorb soil moisture and plant food from the earth and pass them along to the tree. The body of the tree acts as a passage way through which the food and drink are conveyed to the top or crown. The crown is the place where the food is digested and the regeneration of trees effected. ”

“ Shade, shelter from gusts of wind, and rich, well-manured soil are absolutely necessary to do full justice to the merits of this species. By pruning it to a single stem, it may be made to assume a very effective palm-like character. ”

“ Its leaves are of very great size, variously cut and undulated, tipped and margined with scattered spines, and of a bright glistening green colour marbled and variegated with broad white veins. Easily raised from seed, and thrives in almost any kind of well-drained soil. Additional vigour and development may be thrown into the foliage by pinching off the flower-stems on their first appearance. If a few plants are raised in the garden and planted out in rough and somewhat bare places or banks, etc., this will soon establish itself permanently. ”

“ The operation of planting is performed with astonishing rapidity. A labourer takes a quantity of plants under his left arm, and drops them in bundles over the land about to be planted, as he knows, almost to a plant, what number will be required. These little bundles are then taken up, and the proper number of plants selected and plunged by the hand into the muddy soil. The water, when the hand is drawn up, immediately rushes into the hole, and carries with it a portion of soil to cover the roots, and the seedlings are thus planted and covered in without further trouble. ”

“ The pots must be well drained.
Those genera of plants which we have enumerated under the head of repotting in this or next month, are composed of the finest Hot-house plants that have come under our observation. There are perhaps a few of them that are not to be found in the United States, or even on our continent; but the great object, in a choice collection of plants, is to have the finest from all parts of the known world. There are many plants whose nature does not require much support from soil, which is frequently observed in those that are mentioned. ”

“ Thought Planting
There is nothing more common, and seemingly insignificant, than the planting of a garden. There are the simple upturning of the sod, the mellowing of the soil, and the burial of a hard-shelled seed. Let a chemist analyze the soil, and a scientist examine the seed, and they will be unable to find anything signifying relationship between the two. There is nothing, so far as the human eye can see, to suggest that the combination of seed and soil would be other than the combination of stone and stubble. ”

“ I consider the best plan of planting is to throw two furrows together, and plant on this double thickness of surface soil; the roots will luxuriate in this bed of fertile soil and with proper care the tree will make a vigorous growth. ”

“ Harvesting, and Preservation during Winter.—"Before frost sets in, they must be tied up in a conical form, as before directed; and all dead or yellow leaves must be taken off. [Pg 349] Then take them up with a ball of soil to each, and put them into light earth in a cellar or some warm building. Put only the roots into the earth. Do not suffer the plants to touch each other; and pour a little water round the roots after they are placed in the earth. ”