THE SEASON FOR TRANSPLANTING. 



I am inclined to believe that there is a certain period, or rather a certain stage 

 in the plant's annual growth, when it it may be removed with a better prospect of 

 success, than at any other time. My notions on this point do not, I am avare, 

 exactly coincide with those of writers who are generally considered high authorities 

 in gardening matters. I am the more desirous on that account, to state briefly in the 

 pages of the Horticulturist, what are the facts and principles on which m)'- opinions are 

 founded, and if other readers of the Horticulturist, whose experience may differ from my 

 own, or who may consider my theoretical views unsound, should forward to you a state- 

 ment of their experience and objections, we might, in the end, be enabled to understanjl 

 more clearly the causes of success or failure at different seasons, and be induced to make 

 further inquiries, and more accurate observations, by means of which more correct views 

 might ultimately prevail, and a more uniform and successful system of transplanting be 

 established. Ltndley, in his Theory of Horticulture, considers that the most favorable 

 time for transplanting, is during the months of November and December, or, betAveen the 

 fall of the leaf and the earliest part of spring, and chiefly for these reasons; because the 

 roots of a plant are necessarily more or less injured in the process, and are consequently 

 less able to support the stem, than they were before the mutilation took place; and in 

 summer, when there is the greatest demand upon them, owing to the perspiration of the 

 foliage, the roots are most essential; but in winter, when the leaves have fallen, they are 

 comparatively unimportant, as is evident from a very common case. Let a limb of a tree 

 be felled in full leaf, in June, its foliage will presently wither, the bark will dry up, and 

 the whole will speedily perish; but if a similar limb be lopped off in November, when its 

 foliage has naturallj- fallen off, it will exhibit no signs of death during winter, nor till the 

 return of spring, when its efforts to recover, bj'the emission of leaves, onl}^ accelerates its 

 end. These two propensities are considered to include the most essential parts of the the- 

 ory of transplantation. 



If the trees to be transplanted had to be carried a considerable distance, or were likel}', 

 through any cause, to remain unplanted several daj'Sjthen I have no doubt that a greater 

 number of plants would be found to live, and that the success upon the whole would be 

 more satisfactory, if they were transplanted in November, when the leaves had fallen, 

 than if they were transplanted at any other time of year. But if it is intended merely to 

 transplant from one part of a garden to another, or from a nursery within a day's jour- 

 ney, as M'ill generally be the case, then there seems to be good reasons for concluding, that 

 providing the precautions in the " Theory of Horticulture" respecting the preservation of 

 the roots, and the selection of a .suitable daj'', be attended to, these plants will be found to 

 succeed most perfectly, which are transplanted early in autumn, soon after the leaves be- 

 gin to fall, but while a considerable quantity yet remain in a mature and efficient state I 

 have been led to this conclusion, not only by the results of my own practice, but by con- 

 sidering the state in which the elaborated sap is deposited in the wood during winter; the 

 changes this sap must undergo in early spring, to fit it to produce and support new leaves 

 and roots; the necessity of efficient roots to produce this change, and the necessity of ma- 

 ture leaves to speedily repair the injury done to the roots, and to produce fresh fibres. 

 There is evidently a wide difference between transplanting a tree in summer, when it 

 is in full leaf, and in autumn, when the leaves have partially fallen. In the former case, 

 there would be so many adverse causes to contend with, that success would be very doubt- 

 ful; there would be long da3's; a probability of much bright sun.shine; a comparatively 

 mosphere, much unripened wood, and the most profuse perspiration from the leaves 

 the latter case, the objections on the score of solar and atmospheric influences. 



