Transplanting. 57 



Next, take a strip of board, say about eight feet long and six 

 inches wide, as shown in Fig. 71, and cut a notch in one side at the 

 middle, just large enough to let in the stem of a tree. Bore a hole 

 through each end, exactly at equal distances from this notch. Then, 

 whenever a tree is to be planted, place the middle notch around the 

 peg, and thrust two other pegs through the holes at the ends. 

 Then take up the board, leaving these two pegs, dig the hole, 

 replace the board, and set the tree in the notch. Proceed in this 



Fig. 71. 



way till the whole orchard is planted. It is obvious that the trees 

 will stand precisely where the first pegs were placed, and will range 

 in perfect rows. A large number or series of the two pins may be 

 set successively by the board, so that a number of workmen may be 

 digging and planting at the same time. It is of no importance in 

 what direction the board is placed, as the pin and the tree will occupy 

 the same spot, as shown in Fig. 72, the row extending from a to b. 



Transplanting. Very few fruit or ornamental trees ever remain 

 where they first came up from seed, but nearly all are removed one 

 or more times, to the spot where they are finally to remain. For this 

 reason, transplanting becomes a most important operation. If a tree 

 could be removed with all its roots, including the numerous thread- 

 like radicles, and all the spongelets, and placed compactly in the 

 soil, precisely as it stood before, it would suffer no check in growth. 

 The nearer we can approach this condition, therefore, the greater 

 will be our success. 



As a general rule, roots extend as far on each side of the tree as 

 the height of the tree itself. If, for instance, a tree be five feet 

 high, the roots will be found to extend five feet on each side, or to 

 form a circle ten feet in diameter. This rule will not apply to slen- 

 der trees, which have become tall by close planting, but to those 

 that are strong and well developed. The great length of the roots 

 is often shown by trees which send up many suckers, as the silver 

 poplar and locust, which may be seen to extend over a circle much 

 greater in diameter than the height of the tree. 



Many persons "wonder" why trees are so much checked in 

 growth by common transplanting, or why they so often die from the 



3* 



