TRANSPLANTING. 49 



trees is a compost formed of two-tliii-ds muck or black peat earth, 

 reduced by fermenting it several months in a heap with one-thiid fre.sh 

 burn-yard manure. Almost every faiin will supply this, and it is more 

 })ermanent in its effects, and less drying in its nature, than the com- 

 mon manure of the stable. An admirable manure recently applied with 

 great success is charcoal — Klie small broken bits and refuse of the chai'- 

 coal pits — mixed intimately with the soil. Air-slaked lime is an excel- 

 lent manure for fruit-trees in soils that are not naturally calcareous. 

 Two or three handfuls may be mixed with the soil when preparing each 

 space for planting, and a top-diessing may be applied with advantage 

 occasionally afterwards, to increase their productiveness. But whei-ever 

 large oi'chards or fruit-gardens are to be planted, the muck com|)Ost 

 heap should be made ready beforc'hand, as it is the cheapest, most valu- 

 able, and durable of all manures for fiuit-trees. 



Pruning the heads of transplanted trees, at the season of removal, Ave 

 think generally an injvirious practice. It is certainly needless and hurt- 

 ful in the case of small trees, or those of such a size as will allow the 

 roots to be taken up nearly entire ; for as the action of the branches 

 and the roots is precisely reciprocal, and as new roots are rapidly formed 

 just in proportion to the healthy action of the leaves, it follows that by 

 needlessly cutting off the branches we lessen the vital action of the 

 whole tree. At the same time, where trees are transplanted of so large 

 a size that some of the roots are lost in removing them, it is necessary 

 to cut back or shorten a few of the branches, — as many as will restore 

 the balance of the system, — otherwise the perspii-ation of the leaves may 

 be so great as to exhaust the supply of sap faster than the roots can col- 

 lect it. A little judgment only is necessary to see at a glance how 

 miich of the top iiiust be pruned away, before planting the tree, to 

 equalize the loss between the branches and the roots. 



When it is necessary to transplant fruit-trees of large size, the best 

 practice is to prepare them previously by digging a trench round the 

 whole mass of roots, undermining them, and cutting off all roots project- 

 ing beyond this line. The trench should be dug at such a distance from 

 the tree as wall include all the large and sufficient ball of roots, and it 

 should be done early in the spring when it is desirable to remove the 

 tree the next year. After all the roots that extend to this circular 

 trench are cut off, the earth is replaced, and by the season following 

 an abundance of small fibres is sent out by the amputated roots, 

 which, when the whole is I'emoved, will insiire the success and speedy 

 growth of the tree. This is more completely the case when the tree is 

 j^repared two years before transplanting. A variation of this mode, 

 which has been found quite as successful and less laborious, consists in 

 leaving the trench open and covering it with boards only, or boai'ds 

 with a top layer of turf. The tree then is somewhat checked in its 

 growth, it throws out an abundance of small fibres into the ball of earth 

 containing the roots, and is the next season transplanted with great ease 

 and safety. 



The proper size for transplanting varies somewhat with the sort of 

 tree and the kind of culture intended. It is, however, a maxim equally 

 well settled, both among theorists and the best practical men, that health, 

 immediate vigor, and duration are all greatly promoted by tiansplant- 

 ing fruit-trees of small size — from thiee to six or seven feet. We are 

 fully aware with what impatience the beginner, or a peison who knows 



4 



