160 



EXPERIMENTS WITH EVERGREEN AND OTHER TREES. 



people in England, I think, who seem in- 

 clined fo say amen, to the doctrine that 



'■ iMun wants but little here below." 



I would however be quite willing to subscribe 

 to it, so far as regards one's domestic estab- 

 lishment in America, if, alas ! we could have 

 " that little''— ^ood ! 



I must close my letter here, with a promise 

 to give you some account of Chatsworth in 

 my next, which stands, in some respects, at 

 the head of all English places. Yours, most 

 truly. 



A. J. D- 



Cambridgeshire, August, 1850. 



EXPERIMENTS 'WITH EVERGREEN AND OTHER TREES. 



BY GEORGE JAQUES, WORCESTER, MASS. 



Dear Sir — If the following account of a 

 few experiments is worthy a place in the 

 columns of the Horticulturist, I shall be hap- 

 py to see it there, provided you will add such 

 remarks of your own as the nature of the ex- 

 periments may suggest. 



Experiments with Evergreens. — 

 Transpla7iting. — Theoretically, we under- 

 stand that trees of the temperate zones have 

 generally (there may be some exceptions,) 

 two seasons of repose during the year. The 

 first period of rest is the short siesta, in which 

 they indulge during two or three weeks im- 

 mediately succeeding the middle of June, i. e., 

 about the longest days of summer. The first 

 flow of sap is over ; the new shoots have pro- 

 truded themselves and expanded their leaves ; 

 the fruit is set, and nature for a little while 

 takes her needed repose. Soon, however, a 

 new impulse is received; the shoots com- 

 mence growing again, and putting forth leaves 

 upon their extended wood, and the fruit 

 swells in size, and gradually arrives at ma- 

 turity. As the cold weather of autumn ap- 

 proaches, the fruit and leaves fall to the 

 oTOund, the trees again become dormant, and 

 their sap remains almost motionless until the 

 approach of spring. 



The chief operations with trees, are to be 

 performed during this latter long season of 

 their repose. The question of transplanting 



evergreens, therefore, is not whether it shall 

 be done in the fall, or in the spring, or at 

 mid-summer ; but whether it should be per- 

 formed during the summer sleep, or during 

 the winter sleep of the trees, and at what 

 part of those intervals of rest ? 



Were it not for the effects of frost during 

 our long and severe winters, it would unques- 

 tionably be best to transplant trees of every 

 description just at the commencement of their 

 winter's repose. But, as our seasons are 

 constituted, after many experiments and con- 

 siderable observation of the experience of 

 others, we prefer to plant our trees, — ever- 

 green or deciduous, small or large, — except 

 only those of very large size, in the spring, or 

 rather just as the trees are beginning to wake 

 from their long sleep. Having neglected this 

 opportunity, we should next select the early 

 or middle part of their summer rest, for trans- 

 planting evergreens ; but we never mean to 

 transplant this class of trees in autumn again, 

 if we can avoid it. 



We might adduce scores of facts upon 

 which to back these conclusions ; but wo 

 shall confine ourselves to the hemlock only. 

 It is well known that these beautiful natives 

 of our forests are as impatient of cultivation 

 as an Indian is of civilization. Many who 

 have tried to win them from their wild haunts, 

 have given the thing up in despair. We have 



