-MOVING LARGE TREES 47 



&, is run over the truck of a wagon and the end 

 of it is secured to the chain or ring upon the tree. 

 This pole is a lever for raising the tree out of 

 the ground. A team is hitched to a, and a man 

 holds the pole 6. 



The following more explicit directions for mov- 

 ing large trees are by Edward Hicks, who has had 

 much experience in the business, and who made 

 this report to the press a few years ago: "In 

 moving large trees, say those ten to twelve inches 

 in diameter and twenty -five to thirty feet high, 

 it is well to prepare them by trimming and 

 cutting or sawing off the roots at a proper dis- 

 tance from the trunks, say six to eight feet, 

 in June. The cut roots heal over and send out 

 fibrous roots, which should not be injured more 

 than is necessary in moving the trees next fall 

 or spring. Young, thrifty maples and elms, 

 originally from the nursery, do not need such 

 preparation nearly as much as other and older 

 trees. In moving a tree, we begin by digging 

 a wide trench six to eight feet from it, leaving 

 all possible roots fast to it. By digging under 

 the tree in the wide trench, and working the 

 soil out of the roots by means of round or 

 dull -pointed sticks, the soil falls into the cavity 

 made under the tree. Three or four men in as 

 many hours could get so much of the soil away 

 from the roots that it would be safe to attach a 

 rope and tackle to the upper part of the trunk 



