PLANTING THE TREES. 53 



existing houses, September, or as soon as possible 

 after the crop has been taken, is undoubtedly the 

 best time to transplant peach trees, or any other 

 kind of fruit-tree grown against a wall or trellis, 

 for the matter of that. Before proceeding farther, 

 it may be well to say that the trees should be 

 planted at from twelve to fifteen feet apart, accord- 

 ing to the length of rafter used in the construction 

 of each house. Holes of sufficient area and depth 

 are then excavated in the prepared soil, to admit 

 of the home-grown trees (taken up with good balls 

 of earth attached to the roots) being placed com- 

 fortably therein at the same depth in the ground as 

 they were before. Care and judgment should be ex- 

 ercised in taking up trees in full leaf, the object being 

 to transplant without subjecting them to any, or at 

 least as little check as possible in the process of trans- 

 plantation. Therefore, a trench should be opened at 

 from fifteen to thirty inches from the stem, according 

 to the age and size of each tree, working the soil out, 

 around, and from under, meanwhile operating upon 

 the base of the tree with a digging-fork until tw r o 

 or more men are able to lift it bodily on to a strong 

 mat (slipped underneath as soon as the tree can be 

 lifted high enough to admit of accomplishing this), 

 thence on to a hand-barrow. The mat is then 

 secured round the ball of earth and roots and stem 

 of tree, and then conveyed to the hole prepared 



