50 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 



well enr^ugh to stand without suiFering. Our first iDusiness, 

 then, is to take the plants up weU. Dig round them in a 

 circle as far from the stem as where the ends of the fibres 

 reach ; release them as well as they can be released without 

 breaking, — at any rate break them as little as possible ; then 

 with a sharp knife cut off every bruised end and every ragged 

 place where, in spite of the care in taking up, there may have 

 been pieces broken or chopped off; and, having estimated in 

 your own mind the quantity of root lost, make ample amends 

 by reducing the head. Cut out all weak shoots close to the 

 stem ; cut out any that grow upwards or crosswise in the 

 centre ; keep only the best branches that grow in the best 

 direction, and if any of them are too long, shorten them also. 

 Then dig your hole deep enough to take in all the root, and 

 if there be any tap root, — that is, root growing downwards, — 

 sacrifice it at once by cutting it close up to the bottom of the 

 main stem. Having made the hole large enough and deep 

 enough to take in the root, fiU in some soft well-worked soil 

 to press the roots into without bruising ; then, holding the 

 tree upright while the hole is filled in, move the head of the 

 tree downwards one side and then the other, and backwards 

 and forwards, to work the soil in between the roots, and if it 

 be any too deep, lift it up until it is pretty nearly as you want 

 it, when they may till up the rest of the hole, and you may 

 tread it in well, not by pressing the soil close to the stem, but 

 by treading on it all round where the points of the roots are, 

 and when you have it pretty firm, drive three sloping stakes 

 to meet at the stem, and fasten it with straw bands, so that 

 the wind cannot rock it or disturb it. In this way, whether 

 it is an oak or a walnut-tree, a gooseberry-bush or a laurel, 

 you may always secure the well-being of any plant mth ordi- 

 nary care. 



But though the deciduous trees show us so well when in 

 their proper season of rest, it is not so palpable at first sight 

 with evergreens. It wants nice observation to know their 

 season of rest. In some it is midsummer, in others later ; but 

 the cause of so many failures in evergreens is the removing of 

 them when they are active, and have not completed their 

 work. If the fohage has attained its full size and its proper 

 colour — if the last growth has assumed the same colour as the 

 rest of the tree, you may pretty safely remove it. But we 

 have seen firs moved and planted when the new push of 



