104 THE APPLE CULTURKT. 



strike downward as far as the top extends upward. Hence 

 Virgil, who wrote nearly two thousand years ago, when al- 

 luding to this subject, says : 



"High as his topmost boughs to heaven extend, 

 So low his roots to hell's dominion tend." 



Removing large Trees. It is desirable many times to re- 

 move trees which are twenty feet or more high, the bodies 

 of which are four to six inches in diameter. Winter is the 

 time to do this work. Some kinds of deciduous trees, like 

 the maple and elm, which are not so dependent on a tap-root 

 as many other kinds of trees, may be removed with more 

 assurance of success than many of the nut-bearing or cone- 

 bearing trees, which will not, in some instances, flourish at 

 all satisfactorily after the tap-root has been disturbed. As 

 maple -trees do not strike their roots so deep as many other 

 trees, large maples may be removed in cold weather with 

 less difficulty than almost any other kind of growing trees. 



The correct way to take up a large tree is to remove the 

 leaves and loose mould on the surface around the tree, and 

 dig a channel about six or eight inches deep around the body, 

 about three or four feet from the centre of the tree. Then 

 fill this channel with leaves, and press them down close, to 

 exclude the frost from a small portion of the earth between 

 the ball that is to be removed with the tree and the remain- 

 ing banks. This channel must be cut before the ground 

 freezes. Then, after the ground has frozen six or eight 

 inches in depth, take up the trees, set them on a sleigh, or 

 stone-boat, haul them where they are to be planted, and 

 drop each tree in a hole previously prepared. Many trees, 

 when removed in this manner, will continue to grow as lux- 

 uriantly as if they had never been taken up. A great many 

 new houses, having no shade-trees near them, can be pro- 

 vided with large trees at a small expense, if suitable trees 

 can be obtained within a distance of two miles. 



