20 HINTS ON PLANTING ORNAMENTAL TREES. 



local circumstances, that advice, which would in some 

 cases be valuable, would in others only mislead. 

 Something will always remain to be decided by the 

 judgment and discrimination. of the planter. 



As a general rule, March is the worst month of the 

 year for removing evergreens. It is generally accom- 

 panied by cold parching winds, the worst possible con- 

 dition to which newly planted shrubs can be subjected. 

 A hot dry season is bad; but a cold dry one is 

 much worse. But if the plants to be removed have 

 been frequently transplanted, and are well furnished 

 with fibrous roots, the operation may be successfully 

 performed at almost any season of the year. 



Though a cold dry season, as we have just observed, 

 is the worst possible in which to transplant ever- 

 greens under any circumstances, if the plants are 

 coarse-rooted from not having been previously re- 

 moved, the difficulties are much augmented, and the 

 chances of success decrease in an equal ratio. It will 

 be impossible to remove such without destroying the 

 greater part of their fibrous roots, and as the vege- 

 tative powers of the plants are dormant, others will 

 be but slowly produced. Under such conditions, the 

 leaves will help to destroy rather than accelerate 

 vegetation. Evaporation from the leaves of plants is 

 great under ordinary circumstances, and in very dry 

 weather it is much increased; and when the state 

 of the atmosphere is such that it contributes nothing 

 for absorptoin, and from the absence of rootlets no 

 moisture can be sent up from the soil, every drop of 

 sap is quickly drawn from the branches, the leaves 



