REMOVING AND TRANSPLANTING TREES. 89 



Xo cavities should be left in covering the roots, nor should 

 one be injured by the hand or spade. 



15. Let every tree be transplanted as soon as practicable 

 after it is taken up, and let the roots always be protected 

 from sunshine and drying winds until they can be buried in 

 the soil. Drying and exposure to the air always injures 

 roots. The longer the exposure and the greater the drying 

 process, the greater, of course, is the injury. Digging up 

 trees when destitute of leaves, and leaving them an hour or 

 two in the shade, produces little or no harm; but they 

 should not be allowed to remain in the sun, nor be exposed 

 for a whole day to the wind. If they can not be set out or 

 packed immediately, they should have the roots plunged in 

 a bed of mud, to give the surface a thin coating ; or the 

 roots should be immediately buried in mellow soil or sand, 

 until further operations are commenced with them. 



1 6. When trees of any kind are purchased, it is always 

 better, in every respect, to choose young trees, say two or 

 three years old, that are vigorous and bushy, than to pur- 

 chase large ones, four or five years old. As a rule, fruit- 

 trees that are far brought are dearly bought; and a person 

 seldom orders trees from a distance but once. By looking 

 around, most persons can find good trees in their own town. 

 But the safest and best way is to raise the trees where they 

 are to grow. It does not require so long a time to rear an 

 orchard as many seem to think. 



Practical Operations. The illustration herewith given 

 (Fig. 46, p. 90) will give the beginner a more definite idea 

 of the great extent of the roots of a young tree, and of the la- 

 bor required in transplanting a fruit correctly. After the ex- 

 cavation has been made sufficiently broad and deep to receive 

 every root when extended to its full length, place the gauge- 

 board, b (Fig. 45), over the pins, c, c, and set the tree with the 

 body in the scollop, holding it erect with one hand while a few 



