152 THE NEW FORESTRY. 



SECTION XIX. TRANSPLANTING LARGE TREES. 



This is a business that has little connection with true 

 forestry, but it is one that usually devolves upon the forester 

 and must be noticed here. It is not advisable to transplant 

 large trees on an extensive scale, to form groups, as has been 

 advocated in times past, because it is a most expensive plan 

 and because such trees are very apt to be blown over by gales 

 unless stayed by wire ropes, which are troublesome, requiring 

 frequent attention. We know estates where numbers of tall 

 trees were transplanted successfully, many years ago, scarcely 

 any of which now remain, nearly all having been prostrated by 

 gales within the last twenty years. Trees from ten to fifteen 

 feet in height may be moved with a good prospect of their 

 roots getting a sufficient hold of the ground and their top 

 receiving but little check ; but when trees from twenty to 

 thirty feet are transplanted, disappointment may be expected, 

 and some species endure moving much worse than others 

 thorns, oaks, ash and elms for example. Moderate sized trees 

 may be transplanted without previous root-pruning, and large 

 balls of earth are not necessary, but still root-pruning the year 

 before almost ensures success. Trees from ten to fifteen feet 

 high may be cut in to eighteen inches from the stem, which 

 will leave a ball of earth less than three feet wide when the 

 ball is reduced in lifting. That size should carry successfully 

 in a barrow, or on a skid made of boards and drawn by a 

 pony. We have moved many trees successfully, up to twenty 

 and thirty feet in height and of all kinds, with no other 

 appliances than could be extemporised on the spot. However 

 excellent transplanting appliances may be, they may be ren- 

 dered useless by careless work with the spade and needless 

 hurry. It is much better to have a good fringe of roots to the 

 tree than attempt to carry a large ball of soil which is apt to 

 fall to pieces at a critical moment, carrying whole masses of 

 roots with it. Preparation by root-pruning the year before 

 will, however, usually prevent all risk, and with trees of any 

 value that course should always be adopted. Copious water- 

 ings should also be given to the roots, which should also be 

 thickly mulched during the summer. 



SECTION XX. SEA SIDE PLANTING. 



Pure sand, as is well known, is one of the poorest rooting 

 mediums known so far as surface crops are concerned, but it 

 is also a well-established fact that the poorest sand lands 



