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iiN our last number we endeavored to call attention to certain points in the nursery 

 U management of young trees, necessary to prepare them for successful removal. 

 We now propose to offer a few suggestions on transplantinc/. 



Notwithstanding we have made great progress in the art of planting, during the 

 last twenty years; and with all the information that has been disseminated on the 

 subject, by means of widely-circulated pomological books, periodicals, catalogues, &c. ; 

 yet there is among the mass of our vast population who till the ground and plant 

 trees, a very imperfect knowledge of what good planting really consists in. This 

 every nurseryman knows, and every person whose occupation, duties, or tastes, put 

 him in the way of observation. " Will you warrant my trees to live, Mr. Nursery- 

 man ?" says one. " No." *' Then I can't buy from you ; for I should certainly lose 

 three-fourths of them, if not all." " I will give you double the price for your trees, it 

 you will warrant them to grow," says another ; " for I invariably fail in my planting." 

 Another says, " I can not understand how you nurserymen plant so successfidly ; you 

 must possess some secret art, or put some peculiar substance about the roots. Pray, 

 what is it?" So one after the other proceeds, relating his misfortunes, and asking 

 information from the poor nurseryman, who, however much he may desire to enlighten 

 his customers, is too busy to discourse intelligibly on the theory and practice of tree 

 planting. The fact is, this is comparatively a new and unknown operation to thou- 

 sands of people who every year find it necessary to go about it ; arboriculture has not 

 been considered a legitimate branch of rural studies, but as the business of the gar- 

 dener or nurseryman exclusively. 



Now, as the whole country seems to be thoroughly awakened on the subject oi 

 planting, this prevailing lack of knowledge becomes every day a matter of painful 

 experience. The supposition that any man who could set a fence p.ost could plant a 

 tree, is demonstrated to be an illusion, because a tree is not a post, but a living, 

 organized body, made up of a great many parts, all beautifully connected, and recipro- 

 cally dependent upon each other. The roots are the principal organs of nutrition, and 

 at the same time sustain the tree in its position ; the trunk and branches convey the 

 nutriment from the roots to the leaves ; and these refine or elaborate it, and prepare 

 it for the formation of new parts. These different parts or organs must each fulfil 

 their respective functions, or the harmony of nature is broken, and the tree immedi- 

 ately ceases to have a perfect existence. 



Now the roots, we have said, are the organs of nutrition ; and if they are not in a 

 condition to supply a sufficient quantity of the proper kind, the tree must starve, just 

 as an animal would if deprived of a proper supply of food. It is obvious, then, that 

 the planter must first of all see that the soil in which he proposes to plant is in a con- 

 dition to yield the essential nutriment to the roots of his trees. How is this to be 

 We can not now enter into any detail respecting the constituent parts of soils in 



March 1, 1854. cl '' No. III. 



