98 



IRISH GARDENING 



face of numerous hardships and set-backs 

 which are incidental to the career of most trees. 

 Examples of the former may be found in Cor- 

 sican, Austrian, and maritime pines, amongst 

 conifers; and in oak, chestnut, walnut, &c., 

 amongfst broad-leaved species. With the pines, 

 the main idea is probably that offsetting a deep 

 footing in dry soils as quick!}- as possible, 

 trusting to a chance later on of developing 

 the more fibrous feeding roots, while the 

 broad-leaved trees named are usually indigenous 

 to good deep soils, in which water and nutrient 

 solutions can be absorbed without gre.it 

 diflficultv- Spruce, Silver Fir and others, again, 

 accustomed to start life in shade and under con- 

 ditions which do not favour rapid growth, 

 usually form a dense mass of roots, and make 

 little top growth until the fourth or fifth year. 



The means at the disposal of the nurseryman 

 towards assisting the tree in fitting itself for 

 the ordeal of final transplanting are mainly in 

 the direction of giving it ample space for root 

 and stem development, preventing any com- 

 petition for light and air from weeds, and 

 promoting the formation of fibrous roots by a 

 well aerated soil and frequent remcival in the 

 nursery lines. Simple operations all of them, but 

 too often forgotten or lost sight of, or neglected 

 owing to bad weather or a rush of work at 

 critical periods. Properly attended to, how- 

 ever, and followed by reasonable precautions at 

 the time of planting, they mean all the differ- 

 ence between failure and success, and with a 

 few difficult transplanters, success need never 

 be looked tor unless some such measures are 

 adopted. No species, for instance, gets a 

 worse name amongst ordinary forest planters 

 than the Corsican pine. Yet, if strong one 

 year's seedlings are carefully lifted in September 

 or October, or at the end of April, lined out for 

 a year in the nursery, lifted again the following 

 autumn or spring, and finally planted out the 

 third year, this species is almost as easy to 

 transplant as Scots pine. Let it once become 

 top heavy, however, subjected to rough handling 

 or lifting, or the roots unduly exposed to sun 

 or wind, and the percentage of deaths may be 

 anything from 50 to 100 per cent. With all 

 these species, again, an excellent plan is to lift 

 them from the nursery lines in the early 

 autumn, lay them in very thinly in trenches, 

 and finally plant them out as late as possible in 

 the spring, dipping the root in a clay puddle if 



the weather should be hot or dry. The advan- 

 tage of this autumn lift lies in the fact that the 

 broken or damaged roots are gradually replaced 

 during- the winter and early spring, and while 

 this process is going on the plants are lying in 

 a sheltered spot, and evaporation is reduced to 

 a minimum. With careful handling, nearly all 

 the newly-formed roots should be preserved 

 intact, and the plants are at once in a position 

 to start into growth when planted out. This 

 method has been found fairly successful with 

 such cHHicult transplanters as Cupressus macro- 

 carpa and Pinus insignis, and should always be 

 adopted where there is any great risk of failure. 

 With broad-leaved species, many of the pre- 

 cautions necessary with conifers may be 

 modified or dispensed with, beyond that of 

 frequent transplanting, and with good rooting 

 species, such as spruce or silver fir, ash, &c., 

 the exercise of ordinary care in lifting, transit, 

 and planting should be sufficient to ensure 

 success. 



In conclusion, one word may be said against 

 careless lifting, especially on heavj- soils. Bad 

 as tlie breaking of roots may be it is com- 

 paratively harmless compared with the skinning 

 process which follows pulling the roots out of 

 the ground by main force, and which is usually 

 sufficiently injurious to render the plants thus 

 treated incapable of withstanding any hardship 

 lor two or three months afterwards. Iji fact, 

 nursery work all round, to be successful and 

 to lead to successful results, means care in all 

 directions, and given this, very few species 

 exist which cannot be raised and transplanted 

 successfully. 



^p* t^^ t^^ 



Heating the Bank oi- lixuLAND. 



The Bank of England is about to be (itlfil with a 

 system of central lieatinjj and liot water supply which 

 will be one of the largest and most complete private in- 

 stallations in this country. The heating will be eflTected 

 by means of hot-water pipes and radiators, and as the 

 building covers an area of two and a half acres the cir- 

 culation will be accelerated by electricallydriven pumps, 

 so that the radiators at the extreme points of the sys- 

 tem will be practically as hot as those close to the 

 boilers. Altogether there will be about 600 of these 

 radiatoi"s, find they will be supplied from six tioilers, 

 some of which can be cut ofT when the weather con- 

 ditions do not require the whole power. The hot-water 

 system will also extend over the whole building, and 

 hot water may be drawn at any point where .-i tap is 

 fixed. The work will be carried out by Messrs. 

 Mackenzie & Moncur, Ltd., Edinburgh and London. 



