236 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ March U, 1873. 



certain, unless they are very large, to strike down perpendicu- 

 larly again. The soil thus cleared out, and the roots all free, 

 except those which have been left undisturbed, the tree is 

 turned over on the side on which the roots were left, as iu the 

 accompanying figures, you then spread the soU iu the bottom 

 of the hole taking care that it is 3 or 4 inches higher in the 

 centre of the hole. I find the tree stands much more firmly 

 owing to this precaution. 



I begin on trees very young, say the second year after plant- 

 ing, and I generally plant maiden or sometimes two-year-old 

 trees. If you begin early — that is with two or three-year-old 

 trees, you have no large perpendicular roots ; and with care 

 in pruning the roots and laying them carefully in, radiat- 

 ing as directly from the tree as possible so as eventually to 

 form a circle, the trees soon have an abundance of roots, and 

 their lifting is very little check to them except in making wood, 

 and even this you can regulate at your pleasure. 



While the tree is on its .side the roots are all pruned as in 



the accompanying engravings. The tree represented in fig. 1 is 

 about 23 feet high, the spread of roots about 9 feet, the circle — 

 that is the hole — about 11 feet in diameter, age eighteen 

 years. The soil is carefully worked over some .8 or 10 inches 

 deep and spread with a fork. The depth of the hole to receive 

 the tree must be regulated, as well as the width, by the size or 

 height, but none of the roots, even of large trees, are above 

 15 or IC inches deep, and of those which have been commenced 

 with young (although they may now be lai-ge), not more than 

 about 10 or 12 inches ; and the trees do not requii-e any support 

 in any one season to prevent them from being blown over. I 

 consider the depth of roots of great importance, both in the 

 ripening of the wood and the quahty of the fruit. ■ 



The next time the trees are Ufted, the roots left on one side 

 are cut off and the tree is turned the opposite way ; thus, if the 

 roots are left on the west side, at the next lifting thej' wUl be 

 left on the east, and so on alternately. I find on lifting a large 

 tree which haa not been previously hfted, that some regard 



should be p,aid to the prevailing strong winds ; thus, if your 

 prevailing strong winds are from the west, leave j'our roots the 

 first time of lifting on the west side, but it does not much 

 matter if you begin with small trees. Supposing your trees 

 are in single rows running north and south, then your best 

 way would be to turn them east and west, but sujipose you 

 have two, three, or more rows, and they run north and south, 

 then you will need to turn them at some other angle so that 

 the tops and branches may be as free as jjossible from coming 

 in contact with other trees — say, north-east or south-west. 

 The greater part of my trees which have been lifted several 

 times, would, if taken entirely out of the ground, stand on the 

 surface without any .support, and it would take quite a strong 

 breeze to upset them. 



But suppose the inquiry is raised as to the expeirse and 

 extra returns from tree lifting as applied to fruit trees, Does it 

 pay? To those who may doubt it, I would say. Try a few at 

 first, and I have no hesitation in stating you will think with 

 me that the labour is amply compensated for by the superior 

 crop of fruit, both as to quality and quantity ; or perhaps I 

 ought to speak more strongly than this, for I consider the 

 crop pays several times the extra expense. But for my ex- 

 perience in lifting (for which I am indebted to Mr. Rivers, as 

 though it differs materially from his method, yet it has been 

 suggested by it, and but for his I should never have thought 

 of mine) my trees, more thau 2000 in number, would have been 



almost valueless from my having to cle.oi' off my present 

 garden for buOding purposes, whereas now I may sell many of 

 them at from 10s. to 40.s. each. 



I said iu 1862, when I wTote a very short paper for The 

 .Journal of Hokticultiiee, that I was indebted to Mr. Rivers, 

 yet I found from Mr. Rivers's very excellent little book " The 

 Miniature Fruit Garden," that he quite mistook me, as his 

 note in the eleventh edition, page 12, will show, and I thought 

 I was plain in what I wrote as far as it went, therefore if I have 

 not been sufficiently plain here I shall be most happy to answer 

 inquiries at any time. 



I begin lifthig eai ly in the season and continue till the spring, 

 as I lift many hundreds every year, but I begin with trees 

 whose fruit is ripe earliest, generally Cherries, always choosing 

 the mUdest, but especially moderately dry weather. I find the 

 trees suffer if lifted ui very wet weather ; and in filling in I 

 never tread the soil, and r.arely get a tree blown over, not more 

 than one in eighty or ninety. 



I will now give the dimensions of a few trees of my own 

 working, which have been practised upon from their second or 

 third year from working. They were begun upon in their 

 infancy, if I may so express it, and then' growth is not much 

 hindered, but they yield fruit every season. On some of the 

 trees the dimensions of which I am about to give, I have had 

 from one to two bushels of fruit in one season. The height is 

 taken from the surface of the soil, the spread is taken 3 or 



