PLANTING. 



240 



to render the plant, if it has been 

 carefully taken up, almost in the 

 same state as it was in before re- 

 moving. Large trees or shrubs, 

 if planted in this manner in the 

 autumn, and staked, where there is 

 danger from high winds, will grow, 

 and even flower and fruit the fol- 

 lowing year, as well as if they had 

 not been removed. In this kind of 

 planting with large plants, the hil- 

 lock, left after the operation is 

 finished, .should not be less than a 

 foot or eighteen inches above the 

 surrounding surface ; and to lessen 

 evaporation during the ensuing sum- 

 mer, the hillock should, if possible, 

 be covered with short litter, moss, 

 tuif turned upside do"mi, or even 

 small stones for the first year. In 

 staking large plants of this kind, 

 the stakes should be placed close to 

 the stem of the plant, in which 

 position they are much less likely to 

 injure the fibrous roots than when 

 placed at a distance from the tree ; 

 and the stakes should be made fast 

 to the stem of the plant by a piece 

 of straw or hay-rope, or by a piece 

 of twisted matting, or any kind of 

 cord ; the part of the stem to which 

 the stake is tied having previously 

 had a small handful of straw, or 

 moss, or mat, bound round it to 

 prevent the tie from galling the bark 

 of the stem, and preventing its in- 

 crease during summer. These stakes 

 should remain for a year, or some- 

 times two years, according to the 

 size of the plant and its facility of 

 making roots. In general, the sooner 

 the stakes are taken away the better ; 

 because the motion of the stem by 

 the wind is essential to its increasing 

 in thickness. In this matter much 

 must be left to the discretion of the 

 planter, who must always bear in 

 mind that a staked plant is in a 

 most unnatural position ; and also, 

 that if the tree should lean some- 



what to one side for some years 

 after planting, it will ultimately be- 

 come more or less erect ; and that a 

 strong, vigorous-looking plant lean- 

 ing a little to one side, affords a 

 greater evidence of its being secure 

 and in sound health, than a straight 

 erect plant kept in that position by 

 a stake. In the case of planting 

 trees with stems three or four inches 

 in diameter in exposed situations, 

 tv\-o or three stakes may be used, 

 placed at a short distance from the 

 base of the stem, and leaning to- 

 wards it ; and where they are made 

 fast, they should be joined by mat- 

 ting, hay-ropes, or some other soft 

 material, so as not to injure or con- 

 fine the bark. Before transplanting 

 trees of a timber size, the main roots 

 are frequently cut at the distance of 

 five or six feet from the stem a year 

 previously to transplanting ; in con- 

 sequence of which they send out 

 fibres which in the course of the 

 summer become small roots, so that, 

 when transplanted, the tree, instead 

 of drawing its principal noui-i.shment 

 from .spongioles at the distance of 

 twenty feet or perhaps thirty feet 

 from the stem, is enabled to draw 

 it from the distance of .six or eight 

 feet, and thus to continue growing, 

 though not with the same degree of 

 vigour as if it had not been trans- 

 jjlanted. Some kinds of trees, when 

 of large size, such as the Sycamore, 

 the Lime, the Horse-chestnut, and a 

 few others, may be transplanted 

 without this precaution ; but in this 

 case, the operation must be per- 

 formed in autumn as soon as the 

 leaves have dropped, in order to 

 give the roots time to form some 

 fibres during the winter ; and the 

 greater the distance from the stem 

 at which the roots are cut, the 

 greater will be the success. Large 

 trees with wide -spreading roots, 

 when transplanted, seldom require 



