ty, 
PLANTING. 
grown in a very small pot, when it | 
is to be transplanted into the open 
garden, may often require a_ pit 
three feet or four feet in diameter. 
There is not perhaps an operation | 
in the whole circle of gardening that | 
affords a higher gratification to the 
planter, than transplanting plants 
from pots when the pits and soil are 
properly prepared, and the roots; 
carefully stretched out without being | 
bruised or broken. In consequence | 
of the extraordinary sources of nu- | 
triment which are thus afforded to | 
the plant, and of the greatly in- 
creased power given to the roots, 
the shoots which it makes the first | 
year are extraordinary, and evince | 
a degree of vigour which none but | 
a gardener of experience could be- | 
lieve possible. On the other hand, 
when a plant in a pot is turned out 
into a pit, however well the soil 
may be prepared, if the roots are 
not stretched out, it may remain | 
for many years without growing | 
much faster than it previously did | 
in the pot. This is often the case | 
with the more rare species of the | 
Pine and Fir tribe, and with Mag- | 
nolias and other plants kept in| 
pots by nurserymen; and it is| 
ae attended by this evil, that 
the plants are easily blown to one | 
side by the wind. In the case of | 
surface-rooted plants, such as Pines, | 
if they have been some years in the 
pot, they never send out roots suffi- 
cient to keep them upright; and 
hence the Pinaster and Stone Pine, 
which are almost always kept in 
pots in British nurseries, are gener- 
ally found leaning to one side in 
plantations in this country. It is 
necessary, however, to make the 
distinction between plants newly 
planted in pots, and those which 
have been in pots for two or three 
years ; for the former may perhaps | 
have few roots which have reached | 
the sides of the pot, as in the case of | 
China Roses struck and potted early 
326 ae i. ses = 
in the season, and planted out the 
same summer, and which, of course, 
may be planted out without break- 
ing the ball. The same observa- 
tien will apply to all other plants 
in pots that have not their fibrous 
roots somewhat woody; and also to 
all hair-rooted plants, such as 
Heaths, Rhododendrons, Azaleas, 
Arbutus, and in general to all the 
Ericacee, which having at no age 
large woody roots, may always be 
transplanted from pots with the 
balls entire. 
It may here be observed, that 
large shrubs of almost all the Eri- 
cacee may be transplanted at al- 
most any age with less danger than 
most other plants, as, from the 
slender and fibrous nature of the 
‘great mass of their roots, they are 
less liable to injury than woody- 
rooted plants. All that is required 
is that they should be taken up with 
a large ball of earth, and that when 
replanted they should be abundantly 
supplied by water. 
Hitherto nothing has been said 
especially applicable to evergreens, 
whether in the open ground or in 
pots. ‘These being at every season 
of the year more or less in a grow- 
ing state, it is always desirable to 
transplant them with balls; and it 
is only young plants of evergreens, 
such as seedling Hollies, Portugal 
Laurels, and young cuttings or lay- 
/ers of the common Laurel, Lau- 
rustinus, Sweet Bay, Phillyrea, Ala- 
ternus, Junipers, &c., which can. be 
sent toany distance with a certainty 
of growing without balls. The 
common Holly, when it is above 
three or four feet in height, requires 
to be taken up with a ball, and that 
ball carefully preserved by being 
tied up in a mat, or, according to 
the Dutch practice, put into a basket 
of wicker-work. The same remark 
will apply to Arborvite, Junipers, 
Arbutus, Rhododendrons, Box, Phyl- 
lyreas, and even the common Laurel. 
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