AN EXPERIMENT IN TRANSPLANTING. 



231 



It was placed in a hole in the lawn, pre- 

 viously prepared for it, and a small quan- 

 tity of rich loam and well rotted manure 

 mingled with the soil, and the whole nicely 

 filled in around the roots ; the tree was 

 staked, and the leaves subsequently well 

 sprinkled over every evening from the rose 

 of a watering pot. This was continued for 

 about three weeks, the leaves, in the mean 

 while, drooping more and more upon the 

 tree, becoming flaccid and shrivelled, ex- 

 changing their former healthy green for a 

 yellowish sickly hue, and the whole ap- 

 pearance of the plant indicating a total fail- 

 ure. My gardener gave up the tree for 

 lost, and discontinued watering it. We 

 neglected it for about a week, during which 

 time, its speedy death appeared still more 

 certain. 



Being particularly anxious to preserve 

 the tree, as I had never seen it in flower, I 

 determined upon an experiment, which re- 

 flection induced me to believe might possi- 

 bly save it. The mental process, and the 

 conclusion to which it brought me, were 

 something as follows : The leaves upon this 

 tree still remain, not one of them having 

 fallen, nor has any single branch of it died 

 outright ; in other words, there is no local, 

 circumscribed disease. On indenting the 

 bark with the finger nail, its bright green 

 colour sufficiently indicates that the circu- 

 lation still goes on. This healthy appear- 

 ance, however, of the inner bark, is less 

 evident, the more nearly we approach the 

 extremities of the branches, and most dis- 

 tinct near the base of the trunk. The ex- 

 treme branches, with their leaves, look de- 

 cidedly the worst ; that is, those most re- 

 mote from the central supply of sap. These 

 facts naturally suggested the conclusion, 

 that the roots still continue to take up a 

 certain portion of nourishment from the 

 ground, but that this circulating fluid, for 



some reason, fails to perform its office ; fails 

 to undergo those changes in the leaf, which 

 are essential to the life and health of the 

 plant. 



On seeking for the cause of this failure, 

 I attributed it to an excess of leaf — a dispro- 

 portion between the extent of surface ex- 

 posed to the sunlight, (every inch of that 

 surface, too, making the same demand up- 

 on the supply of sap,) and the diminished 

 supply of sap itself, occasioned by a num- 

 ber of the spongioles, or rootlets, having 

 been removed during the operation of trans- 

 planting. Several considerations tended to 

 confirm this view. In removing the plant, 

 the roots necessarily suffered severely, their 

 absorbent extremities were mutilated, so 

 that they are incapable of furnishing the 

 same amount of nutritive fluid to the body 

 and leaves of the tree, which they previ- 

 ously did with ease, while the demand for 

 that supply, the top of the tree being entire, 

 continues unabated. The leaves again 

 profit reciprocally, by the important func- 

 tion which they perform — it is as necessary 

 to their health that that function should re- 

 main uninterfered with, as to the health of 

 any other portion of the vegetable struc- 

 ture. Any deranging cause shows itself at 

 once, in their altered appearance. When, 

 from any general disease, a tree is about 

 to die, the leaves usually present the ear- 

 liest symptoms. When, in the autumn, the 

 capillary tubes become impervious, from 

 the deposition of organized matter, the 

 leaves fall. Again, we know, that in trans- 

 planting at the proper seasons, a tree is 

 more likely to survive, if judiciously prun- 

 ed, before placed in its new situation, and 

 probably for the same reason which I have 

 given above, that the proportion between 

 its absorbent and exhalent organs is kept 

 within due bounds. Pruning in midsum- 

 mer, when the sap is in full flow, speedily 



