TRANSPLANTING, ’ 41 
selves at their extremities; and thus the roots of even a small plant, 
left to nature, will be found to extend to a great distance on every 
side. It is obvious that this elongation of the roots must greatly in- 
crease the difficulties attending transplanting. Where the roots ex- 
tend to a distance from the tree, a greater extent of ground has to be 
disturbed, both to take up the plant, and to make a pit for replanting 
it; the risk of injuring the fibrous roots is increased ; and, as nearly 
all the spongioles will require to be cut off, from the great length 
of the roots, and consequent great difficulty which will attend 
taking them up entire, the plant will be nearly famished before new 
spongioles can be formed to supply it with food. All these dangers 
are avoided by the nursery system of transplanting; while the in- 
convenience of confining the roots to so small a space is obviated, 
by placing the plant, every time it is transplanted, in fresh soil. 
It is customary, when trees or shrubs are transplanted to the places 
where they are permanently to remain, either to make a puddle for 
them, or to fix them, as it is called, with water; the object, in both 
cases, being to supply the plant with abundance of food in its new 
situation. Care is taken, also, to make the roots firm in the soil, and 
to let the earth penetrate through all their interstices. To attain these 
ends, one gardener generally holds the tree and gently shakes it, 
while another is shovelling in the earth among its roots: but this 
mode has the disadvantage of sometimes occasioning the roots to be- 
come matted. When the tree is to be fixed with water, after a little 
earth has been shovelled in over the roots, water is applied by pour- 
ing it from a watering-pot, held as high as a man can raise it; the 
watering-pot used being large, and with a wide spout, the rose of 
which must be taken off. More earth is then shovelled in, and water 
applied again. This mode of planting has the great advantage of 
rendering the tree firm, without staking, or treading the earth down 
round it, as is usually done. Other gardeners spread the roots out 
carefully at the bottom of the hole or pit made to receive them, and 
then fill in the earth. In all cases, the ground is either made firm 
with water, or trodden down or beaten flat with the spade after plant- 
ing, so as to fix the roots firmly in the soil, for the same reasons as 
nearly a similar plan is adopted in sowing seeds. Newly transplant- 
ed trees are frequently staked, but this is not essential if the roots are 
made firm, and indeed the tree is generally found to do best when the 
read is left at liberty to be gently agitated by the wind. 
DY 
