In the soft soil of the lately filled up pit, described at page [59], a hole is made either with the hand or a narrow kodalee (the former, if the soil has not settled much, will suffice), large enough and deep enough to take in the seedling with all the earth attached to it. The seedling is then put in and the soil filled in and round it, which completes the operation.
The manner, though, in which this is done is of great consequence. Four things are all important:—(1) That the tap-root shall not be turned up at the end because the hole is too shallow. (2) That any rootlets projecting outside the attached earth shall be laid in the hole, and shall preserve, when the soil is filled in, their lateral direction. (3) That the collar of the plant (the spot where the stem entered the earth in the nursery) shall be, when the pit is filled up, about 1½ inch higher than the surface of the surrounding earth. (4) That in filling in the hole the soil is pressed down enough to make it unlikely to sink later, but not enough to “cake” the mould.
The following is the consequence of failure in these four points:—
1. Probably death, in any case very much retarded growth. I have planted some seedlings so purposely, the majority died; those that lived recovered very slowly, and digging them up later the tap-root was found to have gone down after all by assuming the shape of the letter S, the growth downwards being from the head of the letter.
2. Rootlets, turned away from their lateral direction, interfere with other rootlets, and though they eventually grow right if the plant lives, they retard it.
3. Fill in as you may (unless you “cake” the soil, which induces worse evils) the plant sinks a little; thus, if not placed a little high, it will eventually be too deep. If on the other hand placed too high, the rootlets and collar will be exposed, which is an evil.
4. Unless this is attended to the plant will sink too much and the collar be buried; likewise an evil, which it takes the young seedling some time to recover.
Only first teaching and then practice will enable either European or Native to plant well. This is how it should be done.
Take the seedling in the left hand, holding it by the stem just above the collar; then take the very end of the tap-root between the second and third fingers of the right hand, and thus put it down into the hole (you thus insure the tap-root being straight). Now judge exactly the height of the collar that it be as directed. Rest the left arm then on the ground to keep the plant steady, release the tap-root, and fill up the hole about one-third, pressing the soil lightly. The plant will then be fixed, and you can employ both hands to fill up the remainder, and keep the rootlets in a lateral position. Press the soil lightly as you do so, and when all is filled up press it down a little harder round the stem of the plant.
All the transplanting should be finished as early in the rains as possible. A seedling, planted in the first fifteen days of June, is worth two planted in July, and after the latter month it is generally a case of seedlings and labour lost.