52 Planting in the Soil: Transplanting. 



may cause a rotten cavity to form, tending to make the tree hollow 

 and short-lived. 



193. In transplanting the oaks and some other hard woods, where 

 the growth is languishing and the shoot is small, it is an excellent 

 plan to cut off the stem near the ground, after the root has got 

 started. This is best done when the leaves are off, in fall or winter. 

 The shoot that comes up in such cases from the root will grow vig- 

 orously and much more rapidly than if left as before. 



194. In " grub-prairies" in the Northwestern States, the soil is 

 full of the roots of trees and bushes, often of the jack-oak, hazel, 

 etc., that have been killed back to the roots by annual fires. They 

 will sprout and grow if protected from cattle and from fires, and 

 gradually other kinds will come in, displacing the first inferior kinds 

 and forming a forest of more valuable trees. The change thus pro- 

 duced in twenty years in Wisconsin and Minnesota, where these 

 grub-prairies are chiefly found, is sometimes remarkable. 



Planting on the Sod. 



195. In loose and very damp soils, it is sometimes found advan- 

 tageous to plant wholly upon the surface, by simply spreading out 

 the roots and turning the surrounding soil over them, so as to form 

 a little conical mound. The soil thus heaped up around the trees is 

 then covered, if convenient, with mosses or other non-conducting 

 substances, and on the outside some inverted sod. 



196. The trees thus set should have no tap root. An abundance 

 of fine fibrous roots may be secured to help the first growth by sift- 

 ing well-rotted leaf-mold over the roots as they are placed. From 

 careful observation it is found that these mounds retain the heat of 

 the day and cool slower in the night that the evaporation from 

 them is less than from flat surfaces, and that there is a perceptible 

 disengagement of carbonic acid gas in the interior from the decom- 

 position going on in the grass and other herbage that is covered. 

 This method enables us to plant in places with less drainage, by rais- 

 ing the roots a little higher. 



The Transplanting of young Trees witiiout Disturbing the Fibers of the 



Roots. 



197. The exposure of the roots of seedlings to the air, and es- 

 pecially to the sun and to dry winds, is generally to be avoided as 



