TKANSPLANTATION FOR THE FAKM, ETC. 171 



EXTRA SIZED TREES. 



Tree dealers have made a great deal of money at the ex})cnse of the plautei', 

 by selling extra-sized trees. Nurserymen are glad to get rid of them at almost 

 any i)ricc, and dealers represent that the trees, if large, will bear in a year or 

 two, and with this statement, and promissory condition, put on a good price 

 for extra large trees, and sell them and the man who l)uys at the same time, 

 for all such stock rarely survives, with any promise, the iirst season. The rpies- 

 tion turning upon how old, I should advise no one, ordinarily, to plant out 

 orchard trees above two years old. In the first place the fibrous roots are bet- 

 ter preserved, being near the body ; and in the second place, there is less chance 

 for fraud. Nurserymen are generally as sliarp as other people, and if they find 

 they are going to be compelled to hold over a block of trees beyond the ordi- 

 nary ages called for, they proceed to root prune the block, and thus check its 

 growth for a season, and the trees are used up to fill orders of trees within cer- 

 tain limits of size — say from five to six feet in height. These trees are the 

 better for root-pruning, but are not as good as others of less age in full vigor. 



ROOT TRUNIXG. 



I would not, however, exclaim against the process of root-pruning trees in 

 preparation for transplanting. It may be employed with great advantage in 

 many instances. For instance, in the example of the chestnut, which is a type 

 of most of the nut-bearing trees. Tlie first thing the plant proceeds to do in 

 its growth is to shoot down into the earth a tap root; if tliis bo cut off at the 

 end of the first year, or second, say seven inches below the surface, the plant 

 will throw out from the section made a mass of fibrous roots which can all be 

 preserved in planting out the following season, thus diminishing the chances of 

 failure that would accompany the jirocess of transplanting without the previous 

 elision of the tap root. 



Again, in instances of trees that tend to form large main roots and few fib- 

 rous ones near the tree, the safety of removal is largely increased by cutting 

 some of the main roots olf the year before the removal, thus stimulating the 

 formation of feeders close to the tree that may be taken np with it. 



In the removal of large trees the elision of the main roots the year before 

 transplanting is a necessary accompaniment of success, thus making the 

 removal the work of a year, and transplanting by degrees. 



PRESERVING THE BALANCE OF ROOT AND BRANCH. 



In moving trees we have already seen that a major portion of the root must 

 be sacrificed, even under the most careful management; the question arises, 

 shall we make the proportionate elision of the part above the ground? A recent 

 writer upon horticultural topics in one of our State papers said : "It is perfectly 

 absurd to remove half the top of a young tree because the same fraction of the 

 root system has been removed ; it would be just as wise to say that because a 

 man's toe has been cut off the body must be evened up by clipping off his ear." 

 Tills may be a striking analogy, but carries no weight with it wiiatever. There 

 is a certain balance to be preserved between root and top, and nature strives to 

 keep this perfect; if we can aid her, we do Avell. For example, an orchard in 

 very rich ground tends to make a very strong growtli of root, and keeping 

 along with it the shoots from the top grow so vigorously tliat they are cellular,, 

 brittle, and unripe. To check this the skillful orchardist does not mow off the 

 top of his trees, but checks the root growth by an abstraction of moisture from 



