JOURNAL OF RURAL ART AND RURAL TASTE. 



Vol. III. 



NOVEMBER, 1848. 



No. 5. 



We must have a little familiar conversa- 

 tion, this month, on the subject of trans- 

 planting TREES. Our remarks will be in- 

 tended, of course, for the uninitiated ; not 

 for those who have grown wise with expe- 

 rience. 



That there is a difficulty in transplanting 

 trees, the multitude of complaints and in- 

 quiries which beset us, most abundantly 

 prove. That it is, on the other hand, a 

 very easy and simple process, the uniform 

 success of skilful cultivators, as fully es- 

 tablishes. 



The difficulty then, lies, of course, in a 

 want of knowledge, on the part of the 

 unsuccessful practitioner. This kind of 

 knowledge may be stated, broadly, under 

 two heads, viz., ignorance of the organiza- 

 tion of trees, and ignorance of the necessity 

 oi feeding them. 



The first point is directly the most im- 

 portant, for the very process of transplanting 

 is founded upon it. Since this art virtually 

 consists in removing, by violence, a tree 

 from one spot to another, it is absolutely 

 necessary to know how much violence we 

 may use without defeating the ends in 

 view. A common soldier will, with his 

 sword, cut off a man's limb, in such a 

 manner that he takes his life away with it. 

 Vol. III. 14 



A skilful surgeon will do the same thing, 

 in order to preserve life. There are, also, 

 manifestly two ways of transplanting trees. 

 That the vital principle is a wonderful 

 and mysterious power, even in plants, it 

 cannot be denied. But because certain 

 trees, as poplars and willows, have enough 

 of this power to enable pieces of them to 

 grow, when stuck into the ground, like 

 walking sticks, without roots, it does not 

 follow that all other trees will do the same. 

 There are some animals which swallow 

 prussic acid with impunity ; but it is a danger- 

 ous experiment for all other animals. What 

 we mean to suggest, therefore, is, that he 

 who would be a successful transplanter, 

 must have an almost religious respect for 

 the roots of trees. He must look upon 

 them as the collectors of revenue, the war- 

 dens of the ports, the great viaducts of all 

 solids and fluids that enter into the system 

 of growth and verdure, which constitutes the 

 tree proper. Oh, if one could only teach 

 hewers of " tap-roots" and drawers of "late- 

 rals," the value of the whole system of 

 roots, — everything, in short, that looks like, 

 and is a radicle, — then would nine-tenths 

 of the difficulty of transplanting be quite 

 overcome, and the branches might be left 

 pretty much to themselves ! 



