232 Landscape Gardening 



to the spring, partly because the earth is dryer and more 

 easily moved and worked, and partly because there is more 

 time to do well what we undertake. In the middle states 

 line autumnal weather is often continued till the middle of 

 December, and as long as the ground is open and mellow 

 the planting of hardy trees may be done with the best 

 chances of success. The surface may be smoothed, drains 

 made, walks and roads laid out, and all the heavier opera- 

 tions on the surface of the earth - - so requisite as a ground- 

 work for lawns and pleasure grounds, kitchen or ilower- 

 gardens - - may be carried on more cheaply and efficiently 

 than amid the bustle and hurry of spring. And when sharp 

 frosty nights fairly set in, then is the time to commence the 

 grander operations of transplanting. Then is the time for 

 moving large trees, elms, maples, etc., a few of which will 

 give more effect to a new and bare site than thousands of 

 the young things which are the despair of all improvers of 

 little faith and ardent imaginations. With two or three 

 "hands," a pair of horses or oxen, a "stone boat," or low 

 sled, and some ropes or "tackle," the removal of trees 

 twenty-five feet high, and six or eight inches in the diameter 

 of the stem is a very simple and easy process. A little 

 practice will enable a couple of men to do it most perfectly 

 and efficiently; and if only free-growing trees, like elms, 

 maples, lindens, or horse-chestnuts, are chosen, there is no 

 more doubt of success than in planting a currant bush. 

 Two or three points we may, however, repeat, for the benefit 

 of the novice, viz., to prepare the soil thoroughly by digging 

 a large hole, trenching it two-and-a-half feet deep, and filling 

 it with rich soil; to take up the tree with a good mass of 

 roots inclosed in a ball of frozen earth; * and to reduce the 

 ends of the limbs, evenly all over the top, in order to lessen 



* This is easily done by digging a trench all round, leaving a ball about 

 four or five feet in diameter, undermining it well, and leaving it to freeze 

 for one or two nights. Then turn the tree down, place the uplifted side 

 of the ball upon the "stone boat;" right the trunk, and get the whole 

 ball firmly upon the sled, and then the horses will drag it easily to its new 

 position. A. J. D. 



