ON TRANSPLANTING TEEES. 373 



classes of large size, say, from six to ten feet in height, or even 

 taller specimens. 



We have said that a very suitable season of the year for 

 transplanting is towards the end of September, and the early 

 part of the month of October. The temperature of the soil is, a 

 that period of the year, in this climate, probably nearer in degree 

 to that of the atmosphere than it is at any other season. At two 

 feet under the surface, about this time, the mean temperature of 

 the soil will be from 55° to 52°, while that of the atmosphere 

 will average in ordinary seasons from about 55° to 48°. The 

 soil being thus warm, and closely approximating the mean tem- 

 perature of the outer air, any injury from rupture, or cutting, 

 which the rootlets may have accidentally sustained in removal is 

 quickly repaired, and the formation of new spongeoles is more 

 rapidly promoted than it would be in the spring months, when 

 the temperature of the soil would have fallen, in ordinary cases, 

 to about 37° or 40°, at which time the temporary check sustained 

 by the roots would prove more serious — occurring, as it would, 

 at the very season when their full progressive development is 

 most essential to the welfare of the tree. For these reasons, we 

 prefer transplanting deciduous trees in Autumn, and coniferae 

 and evergreen shrubs in May, or at Midsummer. 



The successful transplanting of large trees and shrubs depends 

 not only on the season selected for the operation, the situation 

 of the plant may greatly aid in the favourable result, the nature 

 of the soil may also tend to ensure success ; and the choice of 

 subject upon which to operate is probably not the least important 

 consideration in the matter. No tree should be chosen for 

 transplanting from a plantation or thicket, for there the roots 

 of the crowded denizens have so interlaced with one another that 

 it is absolutely impossible to detach and clear the root-ball of 

 any tree without inflicting considerable injury either upon itself 

 or on the feeders of its neighbours. Nor do specimens taken 

 from such positions afterwards form handsome plants, and they, 

 moreover, incur the risk of suffering materially from the change 

 of site. In thicket the tree has been accustomed to a more 

 regular and a milder temperature than it can experience in an 

 isolated position. The alternations of temperature in the soil 

 have hitherto been to it less excessive and extreme, and it has 

 been unused to the vicissitudes of climate to which, in its new 

 situation, it is exposed. Next to the selection of a tree for the 

 purpose of transplantation from an open position, we recommend 

 that choice should be made of good specimens from the margin 

 of woodlands, or from trees growing in narrow strips of belting. 



As regards soil, a strong retentive loam, tending to clay, will 

 yield the best root-ball, and will ensure the exclusion of air from 

 the numerons fibres encased in it during the progress of re- 



