188 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
they are attracting sap from the earth through their spongelets and 
are therefore ina state of slow but continual winter growth unless 
hard frozen. 
“The sap or circulating fluid essential to nutrition of the two 
species of trees is very different; in the former itis thin and watery, 
and in the latter itis ofa thick,resinous nature. On account of this 
property in the sap of the evergreen tree,if once dried it can never be 
revived into living action. This peculiar quality of the sap andthe 
retention of the foliage all the year make it more difficult to trans- 
plant and hardle evergreens than deciduous trees with success, but 
with proper precautions and care they can be transplanted success- 
fully by any one who feels that atree is a live organism and, as 
such, should be so treated.” 
The spring season has long since been decided by the most suc- 
cessful planters to be the best time for transplanting evergreens in 
this climate, and the ideal time is in cloudy weather, when the air 
is saturated with moisture, just as their buds begin to swell. At 
that period the tree in all its parts immediately starts vigorously 
into active growth and receives but little check when properly dug 
and transplanted. 
Next to the selection of time for digging is the preservation of all 
the roots possible, and these to always be kept in moist condition. 
One of the evil practices in the transplanting of all classes of trees 
is the careless, slovenly manner in which the trees are too fre- 
quently taken up and handled, sufficient care not being exercised 
in this very important process. 
Now, having formed some idea of the nature of the material of 
which we are treating, we will consider the evergreen seedlings as 
we find them scattered in the forest, growing under natural con- 
ditions with somewhat different surroundings from those produced 
under the watchful care of man in the nursery. In the forest the 
seed drops from the trees and is covered by the falling leaves and 
lies in a dormant state until the proper conditions are furnished 
by sunshine and rain for their germination; plant food is furnished 
by the decaying of the leaves, and the mother trees provide the 
necessary shade and protection. Here the embryo seed finds 
the moist, even conditions,in nature’s way, for their germination 
and young growth. The forest tree seedlings have no nursing hand 
to care for them in their infancy and supply the needed require- 
ments of growth at critical periods, except what is derived from the 
natural elements surrounding them. From the first it has beena 
struggle for existence, a survival of, not at all times the strongest, 
but of those that happen to have the proper elements within the 
reach of their tiny roots from which to draw sustenance. Now,when 
man attempts to remove these young organisms from their natural 
habitat to the open ground there is a material change in the con- 
ditions surrounding their young lives, and unless some artificial 
provision is made forshading them from the direct rays of the sun 
that conforms as near as possible to that of nature’s nursery they 
will wither and die. Theretore, any one attempting to transplant 
forest evergreens must first be made to know and understand that 
