CHAPTER XXX 

 TRANSPLANTING OF TREES* 



THERE is no subject on which the professional horti- 

 culturist is more frequently consulted in America, 

 than transplanting trees. And, as it is an essential 

 branch of Landscape Gardening - - indeed, perhaps, the 

 most important and necessary one to be practically under- 

 stood in the improvement or embellishment of new country 

 residences - - we shall offer a few remarks here, with the 

 hope of rendering it a more easy and successful practice in 

 the hands of amateurs. 



The first and most important consideration in transplant- 

 ing should be the preservation of the roots. By this we 

 do not mean a certain bulk of the larger and more important 

 ones only, but as far as possible all the numerous small 

 fibres and rootlets so indispensably necessary in assisting 

 the tree to recover from the shock of removal. The coarser 

 and larger roots serve to secure the tree in its position, and 

 convey the fluids; but it is by means of the small fibrous 

 roots, or the delicate and numerous points of these fibres 

 called spongioles, that the food of plants is imbibed, and 

 the destruction of such is manifestly in the highest degree 

 fatal to the success of the transplanted tree. To avoid this 

 as far as practicable, we should, in removing a tree, com- 

 mence at such a distance as to include a circumference 

 large enough to comprise the great majority of the roots. 



* In the early editions of "Landscape Gardening" Mr. Downing in- 

 troduced rather extensive appendices. Of these Mr. Sargent saved only 

 two for the Sixth Edition, viz., the one on "Transplanting of Trees" and 

 one on the "Treatment of Lawns." These contain much interesting and 

 original matter from Mr. Downing, and are accordingly reproduced in the 

 present edition. The modern reader, however, will remark with surprise 

 the extent to which English authors were quoted, English practice imi- 

 tated and English opinion venerated. -- F. A. W. 



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