356 TU£ FLORLST. 



before the trees are planted, and turn it over once or twice during that 

 time. When you are sure that new roots are making progress, water 

 may be given more freely ; before that time, as I noticed above, be 

 cautious in its application. 



The danger of planting evergreens too late in the autumn arises 

 from there not being always sufficient time for new roots to be formed, 

 and a circulation of sap established, before the frosts of winter set in, 

 when, if such is the case, the plants are sure to suffer, their diminished 

 circulation not enabling them to withstand a large amount of cold, 

 especially dry frosts or dry cutting winds. I am forcibly reminded of 

 this by losing, this last spring, some Red Cedars 25 feet high, which I 

 was compelled to remove late in the autumn of 1853. They had sur- 

 vived the winter 1853-4, for I had partly protected them, and although 

 they did not make much wood in 1854, kept green, and looked esta- 

 bhshed, but not sufficiently so to enable them to withstand the cold of 

 this last spring, for in April all died. I may add that, owing to the 

 soil in which they grew being very sandy, I could not remove them 

 with any ball of earth ; and every one conversant with planting will 

 know how precarious Red Cedars of that size are to remove without it. 

 It may, however, happen that evergreens may be successfully planted 

 up to Christmas, should a very mild winter follow ; or the trees them- 

 selves be planted in a sheltered situation ; or where the kinds moved 

 are hardy, as Yews, Laurels, &c. ; but as this will depend on the 

 chances of the w^eather — always beyond control — it should not be 

 attempted w4th anything very valuable, unless the most urgent reasons 

 exist for performing it. On the like grounds nothing should be 

 attempted during January, February, and March, with planting ever- 

 greens ; the dormant state which the loss of so many roots entails by 

 removing them, renders them quite incapable of resisting frost, or the 

 exhausting winds of ^larch and the beginning of April, and they con- 

 sequently die from sheer exhaustion, all the moisture in the plant being 

 extracted by the drying influence of the atmosphere, before the plant 

 has the power to reproduce f jr itself the roots requisite to supply the 

 waste. 



As I have before stated, the period when evergi'eens are in their 

 most dormant state is for most kinds towards the end of April and 

 JSIay ; at this season the leaves of the Holly, evergreen Oak, Alaternus, 

 Phillyrea, and many others may be seen to drop off, preparatory to the 

 plant's making a new" growth. I consider this equally as good a 

 period for transplanting the above as the autumn ; and speaking phy- 

 siologically, it should be more so; but there are two or three reasons 

 which modify the assertion. The formation of new roots depends on 

 the amount of organisable sap in the cells of the vessels nearest the ends 

 of the roots, and these, as they are emptied by the formation of new 

 matter, must draw on those few then removed, and subsequently on the 

 leaves themselves ; it follows that the larger the number of leaves on a 

 transplanted tree, provided such can be prevented from losing their 

 moisture, the sooner will new roots be formed. Now, as evergreens 

 are in a better position for effecting this in the autumn than spring ; 

 and moreover, as (he weather is more generally damp in the former 



