312 



TRANSPT.ANTING IN SPRINfJ AND AUTUMN. 



spriniT, at llio usual lime, or as soon as otli- 

 ers do tliat were planted at the same time, 

 give it one good watering at the roots, and 

 no more while it remains in a dormant state ; 

 but if the bark remains fresh, or docs not 

 turn black, xcash the head and body with a 

 water pot or syringe every evening at sun- 

 down, until it begins to shoot or grow, when 

 you may cease watering the head, and wa- 

 ter the roots if required. I have had trees 

 to remain until the last of July without put- 

 ting out a leaf or shoot of any kind, and 

 after that become as fine specimens as any 

 in my garden. 



No manure should be put to fruit trees, 

 except it be a little vegetable manure, quite 

 rotten, and that mixed with the earth that 

 is to cover the roots. The question is fre- 

 quently asked, whether it be best to plant 

 fruit trees in the spring or autumn. This, 

 in this latitude, must depend on the soil in- 

 to which they are to be put. If the soil be 

 a wet, clayey one, it is best to plant in the 

 spring ; but if it be a light, gravelly soil, 

 the autumn is preferable, because you gain 

 four or five weeks in the growth of your 

 plant in the spring. 



If water be allowed to remain about the 

 roots of trees that are recently planted, and 

 are not growing, it will probably rot them 

 by becoming stagnant and putrid. Trees 

 should be planted therefore, so that the wa- 

 ter will run over and off the roots, which is 

 all they require to afford them nourish- 

 ment. 



Watering the head and body of a tree 

 that is tardy in putting forth its shoots, is 

 the safest, and indeed the only sure mode 

 of bringing them out, while a continued wa- 

 tering of the roots is almost sure destruc- 

 tion to them. 



Trees planted on a south wall or fence. 



should be covered for several liours, when 

 the sun is out, if the weather be warm. 

 The leaves may be considered a sort of suc- 

 tion pump, which draws up the moisture 

 from its roots and produces its increased 

 growth, whereas a tree without leaves, and 

 that is not already attached to the ground, 

 has no means of carrying ofT the moisture 

 from the roots. For example, if two branch- 

 es of equal size and weight, the one with 

 leaves and the other without them, are 

 placed in vessels containing an equal quan- 

 tity of water, and exposed to the sun, the 

 one having leaves will take up the greater 

 part of the liquid, while the other will con- 

 sume comparatively little. 



Some ten years ago, I imported from 

 Paris two hundred and ten Pear trees on 

 Quince stocks, whose roots, on their arrival, 

 I found to be entirely black and dead. I 

 shaved ofT with a drawing knife all the roots 

 down to the stump. These I planted in 

 trenches, tying them to cross-bars to keep 

 them firm, and then filled up the trench 

 with good soil. The heads and bodies of 

 these trees were regularly washed in dry 

 weather until they began to sprout, which 

 most of them did in abundance during the 

 summer, and I finally saved out of the 

 whole number, one hundred and seventy 

 four, which became as well rooted and as 

 good trees as an)'' in my garden. 



This has happened more than once. 

 Three or four years ago, I imported among 

 other trees, twenty Plum trees, from six to 

 seven feet high, the heads of which had 

 been budded the previous year in France. 

 These buds had grown from nine to twelve 

 inches long, and were perfectly fresh when 

 they arrived ; but the roots on examination 

 were found entirely dead. Two of these I 

 gave away. One was good for nothing, 



that do not put out shoots in due season, and the other seventeen I planted in my 



