102 SELECTING, PLANTING, AND CULTIYATION. 



cient moisture to prevent the tree from drying. It 

 must be distinctly kept in mind that the formation of 

 roots is in almost exact ratio to the amount of healthy 

 branches and foliage, and that every branch has its 

 counterpart of root below the surface of the soil. 



REPLANTING THE PEAR TO FOPvM FIBROUS ROOTS. 



Some of the English, and other foreign nurserymen 

 have a scale of prices for trees of the same variety, 

 graduated by the number of transplantings. 



The tree is lifted at the end of the second year, the 

 roots smoothly trimmed, and replanted immediately 

 in an adjoining trench. As each successive row is 

 removed, the ground which was occupied by it is 

 opened for the reception of the next. The benefits 

 derived from this process consist in the formation 

 of large numbers of iibrous roots, Avhich push out 

 at the extremities of the pruned roots, and the con- 

 sequent safety of removal. Two or three transplant- 

 ings of the Pear tree will produce a mass of rootlets 

 and spongioles that somewhat resembles an enormous 

 head of hair. The transplantings occurring at inter- 

 vals of two or three years, will occasion at each 

 removal more and more surprise at the immense 

 mass of roots, and the great change Avhich will have 

 taken place in tlieir character. Instead of long 

 straggling laterals, stretching away from the trunk 

 for several yards, masses of innumerable fibres 

 will be found, contained within a compass of three 

 or four feet, and instead of tlie feeble shoots that 

 are usually produced after removal, the same season 



