230 



AN EXPERIMENT IN TRANSPLANTING. 



Berberry, would not live upon grain, and 

 that, in short, it is not the same disease. 

 The same observation applies to the Savin 

 tree, to which is attributed the sad effects 

 of the disease of fruit trees, and particu- 

 larly of the Pear tree. To dispel this idea, 

 that the Berberry produced the mildew of 

 grain, M. le President Seguier affirms, as 

 a proof of the contrary, that he has on one 

 of his farms, a field of grain surrounded 

 by a hedge of Berberry, nearly 600 feet in 

 length, and that the grain of this field was 

 never affected by mildew, during the four- 

 teen years that the hedge remained. 



In the Royal School of Alfort, several 

 experiments were made in 1815 and 1816, 

 of which the result was to place beyond 

 a doubt the impossibility of this injurious 

 influence. I have seen these experiments 

 repeated many times, in large parks, where 

 Berberry bushes of very large size were 

 growing, near which grain was cultivated, 

 and if the disease was now and then dis- 

 covered in it, it was always independent 

 of this elegant shrub, to which, in some 

 districts, it is to be regretted that such un- 

 fortunate effects are attributed. 



Pepin. 



AN EXPERIMENT IN TRANSPLANTING. 



BY O. L., BALTIMORE, MARYLAND. 



We received the following communication 

 after our article in the present number, on 

 transplanting, was in type. The experiment 

 detailed was an interesting one, and serves 

 as an additional illustration of the advan- 

 tages of pruning transplanted trees, which 

 we have there pointed out. — Ed. 



Dear Sir — I take the liberty of sending 

 you the following account of an experiment 

 in Horticulture, which, I think, may throw 

 some light on the interesting question of 

 pruning. 



On Thursday, May 20th, of this year, a 

 fine plant of Lagerstroimia indica, common- 

 ly called " Crape Myrtle," about eight or 

 nine feet in height, and about fifteen or 

 twenty feet in circumference, around the 

 extreme branches, was taken up from a 

 warm spot in the city of Baltimore, grow- 

 in a private garden in a sheltered situation, 

 with a view to its removal to my country 

 seat. It was in full vigor and growth, the 

 branches covered with young and healthy 

 leaves, and the circulation going on unin- 



terruptedly. The weather had been unu- 

 sually dry, no rain having fallen for some 

 weeks previously. The tree was carefully 

 taken up, endeavoring to preserve as much 

 as possible of the soil around the roots, but 

 without any of the previous preparation of 

 digging trenches, watering, etc., as recom- 

 mended by Mr. Perkins, for transplanting 

 trees in summer. The number of your 

 journal containing his article, indeed, was 

 not at hand, and the process as described 

 by him and executed so successfully, did 

 not occur to me. I made the attempt at a 

 venture, and with scarcely a hope of suc- 

 cess. 



On lifting the tree to place it in the cart, 

 most of the soil fell away from the roots in 

 a loose powder, owing, doubtless, to the 

 long preceding drouth. In this condition a 

 piece of Russian bass mat was wrapped 

 around the exposed roots, and the tree trans- 

 ported a distance of two miles, one man 

 driving the cart, another holding by the 

 stem of the tree, to prevent its being blown 

 over by the wind. 



